1777 Mex. 8R - Looks Strange Though Slabbed!

I see some porosity/cavities here and there that could be environmental damage, but would still worry me, and NGC has botched the authentification of such before. But I'm not learned enough to make a definitive pronouncement.

The coin has been heavily cleaned (perhaps after burial) so it is hard to tell for sure.

The portrait die has been heavily lapped likely after a severe clash. There are several details and outlines that have been removed due to this over polishing. This is most pronounced along the base of the bust above the date and the neck near the clasp. The die is also near terminal state having developed orange peel erosion of the surface around the date. This makes the original die work much harder to observe.

The shield die is on the other hand a nearly brand new die with typical new die textures on deep details. For example the top of the shield border on the left side and the central oval. The contrast is quite obvious. This may be a replacement die needed because of the clash. The original reverse die may have fractured.

Regarding the actual classification of the coin I see a basis to suspect the coin may be a Class 2 Circulating Silver Counterfeit made for the China trade - but the clues are NOT overwhelming. There are 20 clues I use to identify a Class 2 coin - they are split between edge and face clues. Unfortunately the edge is not visible and that is the place where all of the most conclusive clues are found.

The Specific Gravity of this coin can not be determined. XRF is also impossible in a holder so this is likely a coin that will never be classified with any degree of certainty.

NGC and the other TPGs can not be faulted for encapsulating Class 2 coins because the existence of the class while known by some dealers for decades - is only now being proven scientifically. I first heard of these "restrikes" in 1960 but proving how to distinguish between the Class 2 coins and genuine coins has only become partially possible in the past 20 years. XRF provides the first evidence to isolate part of Class 2. Coins made with silver refined AFTER 1870 will be essentially free of gold (less than 200 ppm) and the level of gold will drop to a lower level until about 1880 at which point the levels stabilize at 20 ppm. Class 2 coins made before 1870 will be essentially identical to genuine coins - so for now at least they will be unidentifiable. Coins made before 1835 can in some cases be identified by a very accurate SG test. Prior to 1835 the schroffs did not use SG and the Class 2 coins made by some suppliers were slightly debased because they could get away with it. So coins with 70-85% silver are early Class 2 but you need a very accurate (laboratory level accuracy balance scale) to do the test. I am not aware of a digital balance that costs under $600 that can do such a test. All digital scales - have inherent error rates associated with total weight being measured, scale range and optimal target weight, even the position on the pad causes a variation in detected weight. So long story short - just because a digital scale reads to 0.001 or 0.01 does NOT MEAN IT IS ACCURATE to those levels. A typical digital balance in the $30-50 range provides a range of accuracy level between 0.2% to 2% of the weight read. (Cheaper scales have higher inherent ranges). For an 8R that is a range of 0.05 to 0.5 gram. That variation potential (even when freshly zeroed) means that SG can not be accurately determined beyond a single digit for the best scale and is essentially worthless for the poorer level scale. OK for macro testing but not for highly accurate tests needed for Class 2. The $20 digital scales from China are in this context good for paper weights.

Thank you Bob. Always happy to gain additional knowledge about these coins.

One more, never seen the three lilies at the back of the coin are so decent.