New Here, Help Please.

Anybody know what this is?

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Originally posted by edreyes

Anybody know what this is?

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1901 Russian 5 Roubles. This is a wonderful experience, and we're grateful for your choice to share it here.

Here's a 1777 Carol III Dos Escudos

1817 Ferdin VII 1/2 Escudo or I guess it is since it's just between 13-14mm in diameter.

1915 Georgius V

1882 Alphonso XII

1885 Victoria

edreyes - Well, all I can say is that you have some VERY remarkable coins in that collection. I spent quite a while studying the Spanish and South American coins very closely. The good news is that without much doubt the majority are in fact real. There are a couple that need study and one that is absolutely a counterfeit - but a nice one that likely was made in Boston about 1895. The Bolivian Gold coin from 1857 is perhaps the best example of that type I have ever seen - it along with many of the other 8E Spanish colonials should be slabbed to prevent any damage.

Many of the coins have been rather harshly cleaned. There are strong hairlines indicating someone brushed the surfaces with some abrasive and bruched the coins across the radial grain which makes the cleaning far more visible. They way the cleaning was done in several cases looks as if it many have been done by the same person. It is unfortunate that was done to some of these coins because it has reduced the potential value GREATLY.

I noticed a date error as well - you have an 8 reale that you refer to as a 1796 - the 6 is really a Spanish 5 which superficially resembles a 6.

The counterfeit is the double struck 1793 with the "Chinese" Chops. That is a full weight silver forgery made in the USA for use in China at a period when US silver prices had fallen and the Chinese merchants were paying apremium for "Bustman" dollars. The Bustman as it was called in mainland China was legal tender until 1933. The Chinese merchants paid a 5% permium for high grade coins (compared to the more normal well worn real coins) - so several merchants got together and supplied high grade Bustman coins by making them new. This business was legal in the US and is fairly well attested in period records. Production rates of up to 10,000 coins a month from one single source are attested. The fact that it was done has been "forgotten" or ignored by the coin collecting community. When I was a kid back in New England several of the really old coin dealers knew all about this trade in forged 8Rs and one guy Walter Wac kept a tray of them in his store window. He personally knew some of the forgers (or at least he said so). I remember buying one (an 1805) from him for a dollar or two back in 1960. I carried it to school as a pocket piece. The Boston issues were edged by a single die and can usually be identified by examining the edge. There will be one overlap and on many of the coins there will be diagonal cuts on about half of the perimeter. These diagonals were most likely made by a "gripping" devise that held the coin blank while it was being edged. So look for one overlap with NO matching overlap at 180 degrees and look for //////// marks that cut through the edge pattern on ONLY HALF OF THE EDGE. The other feature of many Boston counterfeits was that they always used the wrong 9 when punching the dates. They did not use a font with a curled loop - their punch was a closed loop punch like you see on your coin. There are Boston coins with the proper loop but you can only ID them by the rim. Your coin is one of the ones made with the wrong 9, so it can be identified fairly easily.

If you ever want to sell the 1793 please keep me in mind.