1771 Peru 8 Reales Pillar

Xiang Of course, jfransch is 100% correct in his assessment of this coin.

It is a very crude representation of an original that I would place in the "Tourist Class" of modern forgeries. That is a class name that I "coined" to differentiate the contemporaneous barbaric counterfeits from the modern barbaric copies. The Barbaric class was first named by Calbetto and consisted of the crudely made copies made to deceive illiterate people and indians. These copies often get even the lettering wrong.

The modern Tourist class relies on the same lack of familiarity with the style of an original. The modern class was first documented about the time of WWII and consisted of poorly copied dollar size coins that were sold to soldiers in the Pacific. The coins (often US Dollar coins) were usually sold for a few cents each and relied on the serviceman not knowing what an original looked like - but since they thought they were getting a dollar silver coin at a bargain price they took a risk.

The same thing happens today in flea markets worldwide. Large silver "looking" coins being sold for far less than the value of silver. Tourists thinking they can make a quick buck at the expense of a "local uneducated" individual buy them and only find out they were swindled when they get home.

The coin you have there is likely magnetic. It looks like nickel to me.

Xiang - The Tourist Class copy you posted has a value of about $1 to a serious collector. I hope the second coin is real - otherwise you paid far too much.

That "Klippe" is a common well known fake, I am surprised it passed between any dealers as real. It is listed on the Daniel Sedwick site under "modern pirates" as Fake Cob FC53641 and is listed as a forgery on page 45 of "The Standard Catalog of Mexican Coins" by Colin Bruce printed in 1981. It is often encountered cast in silver. The four flat spots in the corners are the "marker" for this particular fake.

If you have fake cobs that are not listed, please send a picture and description to Sedwick so he can add them to the list.

I don't feel confortable with an edge like that ... the coin is from Lima which is a mint making cruder coins ...
I prefer to have real specialists give you some help on this one, I don't want to go in the wrong direction (I wouldn't pick it for myself)

james_euro The coin is NOT Real. I have never seen that particular edge deign on any real colonial coin. But having said that - it makes the coin VERY desirable to counterfeit collectors like myself.

What is the seller's asking price?

swamperbob : that's what I was wondering ... the edge look awefull, but the rest of the design particularly well done.
The coin seems striked, and not recent.
If you (or another specialist) get a hold of it, I'll be glad to ear more about this one :)

Bob what do you think to the suggestion that this IS a genuine square/circle edged coin, but it has been roughly edge-filed (which would also explain it being underweight) leading to the raised contours of the boxes and circles disappearing, leaving only square and circular indentations (as seen in the pic) ?

Not a possibility, or just too hard to be certain ?