" Counterfeit " 1860 Gold 100 Reales.

Another thing about XRF. Having analyzed over 5,000 coins with XRF from all U.S. and World types and having a world contemporary XRF reference coin collection of about 200 World pieces from 1500-1800 I can say when you shoot with a XRF gun or lab bench higher end model look at ALL the elements. As an example here with gold coming from a 19thC source if the mint is from South American particularly from a South American Mint gold coins will have trace platinum and or palladium. Unquestionably for Spanish Mint coins. This is why they used platinum as the debased worthless alloy in the 19thC. It was worhless in the 19thC.
In your case gold should have lead, copper and silver >1% due to the cupellation process not being able to extract lead and silver efficiently in this time period and maybe platinum and palladium in trace (<1.0 %).
The real observation is what the other 10% says in the assay. We try to stress this in the GNL book with regal 8R and the 0.2% gold signature. If you see an order of magnitude less of gold (i.e., <0.02% Au) in ANY regal 16th to 19thC Reale please proceed from pessimism to optimism. This hurts because you saw the 90% Au and everything was KOOL. Its the OTHER 10%. Ok ... you get my point. If you XRF shoot it again post the assay here just as FYI ...

JPL

Edges don't lead me to any certain conclusion about origin.

Thank you so much for sharing this coin with us. Would you mind if I incorporate these photos into my book on Isabel II?

Still waiting for the data from PCGS, just sent them a reminder.
I appreciate that they are a busy company, but how hard is it to send an e-mail !

In your collection if have another of this type or from the real time period and not a modern fake - for example - just comparing this PCGS rejection piece to a known legitimate regal standard of the period. Then comparing the side by side assays.

Just a thought.

JPL

From my experience their should be some unusual metals in low quantities of course in the alloy mix.

So for now - just report. For example with modern Ag Chinese fakes I have seen Fe/Ni, German Silver (Cu/Zn/Ni) and low silver with brass (Cu/Zn). For 90% silver fakes sometimes you may see metals like aluminum, cadmium, chromium and other odd-balls or 20thC type metal contaminants.

So just report the full assay here.

I believe that last element might be Cu (copper).

I look forward to others insights on what that composition suggests about origin.

For what it's worth PCGS (or any third party grader) rarely provides such details. That's outside the scope of the offered service. They generally just list the item as "questionable authenticity" and return it. The fact that they committed to "counterfeit" for yours is notable. A reputable dealer would almost certainly refund your money based on the written PCGS return slip you have. (barring special circumstances - such as an as-is no return auction lot)

See:

http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces44685.html

It seems the gold is low and it was debased with copper. We should see Au (90%), Cu (1-2%), Balance silver (6-8%) with maybe iron (~1%). What is the weight in comparison to this web linked information. If low this confirms the high Cu level. For South American Mints platinum enters the picture - of course).

This is a well made modern forgery IMO - as we also suggested on its awkward eye and hair details. Still if you can get a more fuller assay but this is what I would suspect from a $10,000 XRF gun these three metals: Au, Ag & Cu but with the Cu & Ag levels flip-flopped - reduced proportionally with Au at 90%.

JPL

I would return it for a full refund withe counterfeit tag and XRF analysis. Its almost 90% Au - I am not sure what your loss would be that severe? I own modern forgeries for study, I own contemporary counterfeits because they are more exciting than regals and I own regals solely for their history ... each type has a purpose ... IMO.

But only you can answer that question ... it seems the XRF registered high copper is synonymous with the slightly low weight you mentioned previously.

JPL