8 Reales From 1779 | Mexico

Mint Mark is that "M" with the little circle above it, just like the picture on that site you posted, but the assayer is F F, instead of the F M in that pic. So does that mean Mexico mint?

Your 8 Reales coin dated 1779 should bear the bust of King Carlos III on the obverse and on the reverse the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Spain surrounded by the inscription HISPAN. ET IND. (for Spain and the Indes), the abbreviation of the denomination, in your case 8R, the mark small o over large M of the Spanish Colonial mint at Mexico City as well as the initials F F for the assayers at the time: Francisco Antonio de la Pena & Francisco Arance y Cobos. The Spanish appointed two assayers at a time to supervise the quality of the silver and gold coinage at every mint and despite this precaution there were discrepancies in the percentage of silver in the alloy from time to time at the colonial mints of Spanish America.

Roderick

I am glad that you found my information of some use.

DEI GRATIA is a commonly used Latin phrase in the titles of monarch meaning BY THE GRACE OF GOD. REX is Latin meaning KING. Monarch found out long ago, that being chosen by God enhances their mystique and above all is very useful in controlling the populace.

Roderick

So I finally found a way to take some pics

but I'm not very good at it yet

The older Chinese chop marks from the 18th century are normally very much smaller than those used in the mid 19th century to the early 20th century. While the chop marks appear to be correct, I have read of reportedly counterfeit Chinese 8 Reales coins punched with 18th century style chop marks in order to throw off the wary buyer.

I should mention that just because a coin has chop marks does not mean that it was actually in China. Chinese merchants could be found all over what is presently Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Malaysia and others. They chopped the Spanish, Mexican, Peruvian, Bolivian and American coins all through the 19th century and in the case of Spanish Colonial coins for a few centuries before.

Check out Trade dollars to learn about counter-stamps. (do a Google search of " Trade dollar counter-stamp".

The chopmark just to the left of the capital of the Pillar of Hercules on the right is the character 'liang' which according to F.M. Rose is an alternate word for tael which was a standard Chinese weight for silver. By standard, I mean that it was the principle designation for silver in the amount of just over one troy ounce. Over the centuries and with locally accepted variations a tael could vary in weight from 33.9g to 40g.