"Contemporary Counterfeit" Pillar 8R... Yeah, My Patootie

@MathieuMa:

Congratulations the Chihuahua 8R of 1811, lot 1139, is an excellent choice, and for the price it went for it is a great buy!

1811 is, of course, an interesting year for War for Independence emergency issues. With this coin, the quality of the cast is really above average, especially for an 1811, and even taking the hole into account. Plus, the "pillars and pomegranade" counterstamp is one of the clearest I have ever seen in the whole series (just compare for the others that were offerd in this auction!).

Apparently, people weren't really looking at these facts (or were distracted by the hole), as the coin went for a very good price in my opinion...

The Chihuahua casts are not known for problems with forgeries. Even the ones I see on ebay are real ones, only that they tend to be listed with exaggerated starting prices. The simple casts don't sell for high prices, and the more complicated overstrikes of the later years would be really hard to counterfeit. But in the end it will always pay to buy from the known dealers only with these kinds of coins.

But one should still do his own research. As far as "safe sources" are concerned, be they Cayón or not, and as much as I admit that they know very much more than I do - in my humble opinion there are serious reasons for doubt in the Salcedo counterstamp lot 1026.