1755 8 Reales Recovered, Real Or Counterfeit ?

realeswatcher I agree with you that the coin looks genuine in most significant respects. But is that enough?

The state of preservation is remarkably good and silver Numismatic Forgeries were very common 20 - 30 years ago when I assembled my set.

I have seen so many that look genuine but which turn out to lack proper gold trace or contain various rare earth elements never encountered in Mexican ores (reclaimed silver from computers) that I would never invest much money into such a coin. Others should feel that way as well.

Here first cost is not critical, so if I were the finder I would want the XRF and density results BEFORE I had the coin slabbed. Once in a slab there is no way to test the coin. If you recall from an earlier topic - I know of at least two coins submitted AFTER scientific testing that came back graded. I know the two coins were NOT GENUINE. I did the testing.

If the site has been known to anyone prior to this discovery, I would never rule out an intentional disposal of a forgery as being a possibility.

I performed a specific gravity test. The coin weighs 26.89 g. Its suspended in filtered water displacement weight is 2.62 g. (suspended by fishing line) giving it a SG of 10.26335877862595. Does this sound correct?

Thanks Bob! I'm looking for XRF testing in area. I'll post results once I have it done.

FYI.... I have found that higher end gold and precious metals Brokers have the high end XRF Testers that can now break down an alloy into it's individual elemental composition percentages with exacting accuracy. Within a fraction of a percentage point. Especially when checking thinner materials like coins & jewelery. No kidding, even trace metals!!

realeswatcher - I checked that thread as you suggested, and it would appear that they may have located the site where counterfeits were produced. Two matching examples and a planchet in the same location could point to a forgery ring operating in that vicinity.

Metalvarsity, Thanks for the information, much appreciated

I have written one full length book to date. Counterfeit Portrait Eight-Reales is available at Amazon.com.

The hard cover edition was sold out in a year, but the soft covers are still in production. I had hope to do an update adding 150 new varieties, but my work on a second book has prevented that to date.

I was able to find a university to do the XRF test on the 8 reales. I will not post the University name, so it does not get bombarded with requests.

I was not able to get a percentage print out report I was allowed to take a photo of the spectrum analysis. Below are photos spectrum, Over 90% silver content, and a small percentage of copper. The small peak circled in yellow would be less than 1% AU According to the person performing the test. There are no other strange elements involved.