What Is Wrong With This Auction - A Simple Question?

It's not a Real!

I love your puns!




A Maria Theresa Thaler!

It's a Maria Theresa Thaler, matttheriley.

wonghinghi You are exactly correct.

The MTT is a recently produced "restrike" made far closer to 1980 than 1780 as such it is simply impossible that this coin was on the El Cazador. That fact can be found by checking on-line resources.

Of course you might have reached the same conclusion if you were aware that the El Cazador was a Spanish ship that was on a special mission to deliver silver Mexican currency from Veracruz to Louisiana. The cargo was reales not Thalers. So you could have deduced that an Austrian coin was out of place.

A series of clues (which may not be solid proof, yet which are definitely problems) can be found simply by looking at the coin itself. First, it does not exhibit signs of sea floor corrosion. Second, notice the untoned X on the reverse of the coin. That is typical of a scotch tape cross to hold a pile of coins together. Under the tape is a pristine coin surface. So a simple observation should have raised red flags.

So it is a simple answer but only if you know when the MTT's were made and if you look critically at what the coin itself is trying to tell you.

So the thing to take away from this simple question is that before you invest in any coin know everything you can about it - what the books say and what the coin says.