Two Additions To My "Un-Real Reales" Collection

I won two rather nice contemporary counterfeit Cap and Ray 8 reales tonight. This is the type I want to cover in my next book - the one that I have always wanted to write.

These are my favorite counterfeit type. These are the same type coins I first encountered in the late 1950s and early 1960s after I first heard about J.L. Riddell's work at the New Orleans mint. That lead to a lifelong interest in the coins of Mexico and their circulating counterfeit "cousins".

Here are the two auctions.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1833-Mexico...281506503906

This coin is very closely related to several that appear in Riddell's Monograph but this one is not itself recorded. The eagle type is actually rather common.

Can anyone see why I like this bird? What makes it special?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1850-Mexico...271679889008

Of the two, this second coin is a FAR scarcer date and type. There are several interesting features of this counterfeit as well. It is dated 5 years after the date of Riddell's book so it is not listed. However there are some rather similar details between this coin and others listed in the book.