1821 Zacetecas 2 Reales Cast Made With Good Period Silver

Saw that piece the other week... My impression on sight was that it was cast as opposed to water salvage or ground find just because it has such even, yet moderate-to-heavy, porosity. Usually when a piece is that eaten, I expect to see sections of the coin which are REALLY eaten away, and some which are less so - not as uniform as that. However, that of course isn't set in stone...

Now, if it WAS simply a cast, I don't think there's any intended implication to that... As you know, there are struck Kleeberg-type contemporary counterfeits (copper alloy, yes?) of 1821 Zs 2R... why couldn't there be a simple cast?

However, if you're finding good metallic content with that much remaining weight... wouldn't make sense fir it to be a contemporary counterfeit, would it? Also, the "no ring" trait could be caused by the seawear, I think - playing with really "razor"-type pieces (either cob or heavily-worn El Caz) they often give more of a clink than a silver ring.

John, if it's so challenging, you should keep it until something else comes along to help make sense of it...

"have you thought of fire damage then cleaned"

I like the possibility of acid-etching more. Fire usually bubbles the surface more, no? And, similar to sea-wear, it's not usually that uniform.