Help ID Coin?

Hello Al and Matt - The coin is a Spanish colonial 1/2 reale. It is the type of coin that most colonists in the US would have used for pocket change in the period before 1857. It had a face value of 6 1/4 cents. A reale was an 1/8th of a dollar. The US monetary system was originally based on the Spanish 8 reale. That is why the stock market still trades is 1/8 of a dollar units. A reale was also called a bit. Two bits was a quarter dollar. So this little coin is a Half Bit.

The drill holes are very curious. Why two? Why on the side? Was it sewn into clothing for emergency money? Is it a lop sided button? It is interesting to try to figure out what it was used for.

As to what colony produced it?

The two drill holes are right in a very critical area - the mint mark and assayer initials (which together identify the coin) are located in that area. Is there any trace of lettering there? Even a fragment of one or two letters might identify it.

Also what does the portrait side look like? There are three possible Kings involved Charles III, Charles IV and Ferdinand VII. These coins were made from the 1770s to the early 1820s.

The history attached to this coin is likely to be of far more value than its numismatic value. It is the kind of item that got me involved in the hobby originally. I still own an old 1R that I bought for 50 cents when I was a kid. It was dug up by a farmer near an old colonial house foundation. It is a mess and likely still not really "worth" 50 cents, but to me it was a prized possession because it was used as pocket change by someone in New England.

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Originally posted by Susanlynn9

I know a couple of people who take older coins that are not very valuable and drill holes into them to sew on hats, jackets, etc. This looks like what might have been done.

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yes there is one guy that frequents allot of shows that has a hat and jacket with holed coins sewn to it, I don't think he drills holes in very many but gets them with the holes already in them but I may have read somewhere in one of his post's on another forum that he has drilled holes in coins only that he has gotten at face value but not sure if I am correct on that point or not. I am sure most people know who I am referring to because I have even seen articles in magazines written about this individual with his jacket and hat as a sub topic. There was another guy that put a whole set of US coinage in a Dansco7070 album filled with nothing but holed coins and he had a complete set so that shows that there are allot of coins that have been drilled for one reason or another that seemed like a good idea at the time to the person holding the drill

Matt - the coin is 0.903 fine silver or just above 90% silver. The bust appears to be that of Charles IV. So the likely date is between 1791 and 1808. Some of the South American mints used the Charles IV portrait for some time after King Ferdinand VII took over.

The total weight of the coin new is 1.69 grams NEW - in this case that would be about 1.5 grams which equates to about 1.3 grams of pure silver. At today's exchange rate of about $12.81 that would be about 56 cents of actual silver value.