I recently won this contemporary counterfeit 8 reales in an auction. It's an interesting mule of an 1808-1811 Peruvian imaginary bust and a Royalist Zacatecas 1820 (or later) reverse, based on the assayers' initials RG. My question is - do you think this could be Riddell counterfeit #69? The image in the book is pretty much illegible, so wanted to see what you all think. Here are some points and my interpretation:
1) Riddell correctly identifies Peruvian imaginary bust 8 reales as Lima mint products for coins #27 and #28. This would indicate that #69 did not have a Lima mintmark or he would have classified it differently.
2) Riddell identifies coin #69 as a "Hammered Dollar, Low Standard, Mexico", which means he thought it was a mint-made debased product. I can't see the mintmark or assayer on the image of coin #69, but the fact that Riddell thought it was Mexican meant that the mintmark or assayer was probably Mexican.
3) The Unreal Reales lists coin #69 as having assayer's initials AG based off of Riddell's image.
4) Weight: 24.87 g (92% of standard in Riddell terms). Estimated specific gravity: 9.1
Other unrelated thoughts:
5) The coin appears to me to be struck with worn dies made with punches. You can see the castles both have the same defect. The upper left castle has quite a bit of detail left that doesn't match the wear on the obverse.
Questions - Does anyone have a better image that would clearly show an "A" vs an "R" for Riddell's coin #69? What are your thoughts in general? Thank you!
Posted 03/31/2023 12:09 am
