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Posted 02/07/2018 12:14 am
Quote:
I remember him using some kind of scale to measure the gold in the coin.
I remember him using some kind of scale to measure the gold in the coin.
Do you mean a desktop XRF machine - something like this below? They zap the coin and it gives you the proportion of each element/metal present. Did he mention the exact gold percentage?
So, the 21mm or so size is correct for what is in fact visible on the piece itself - a denomination of horizontal "II" for 2 Escudos. That 6.9g weight is at the high end of the range, but acceptable. The surfaces look proper... and we've been told it's actual gold. From everything we have here, I'm seeing a genuine piece.
The style is certainly Mexico 1711-1713... and 1713 specifically looks accurate. Curious that whoever marked the holder had the dating right but mismarked (or misread) the denomination.
This style/date of Mexico gold is almost certainly a find from the 1715 Fleet... and numerous replicas and/or fakes have been made of various 1715 Fleet gold (and silver) finds almost since they started bring it up in the 1960s. As such, you have to basically assume not genuine and work backwards to prove otherwise. In this case, I think we are dealing with a genuine piece.
