Spanish 2 Real Variety

Some die slippage and being struck off-center - slightly. No premium. Genuine.

JPL

Repunched individual letters on Spanish colonial dies like this coin from Lima (Peru) are very common on the minor denominations. They are less common on 8R coins and neither are worth a premium. The re-punched letters that do carry a premium value are corrections for the wrong letter or a letter over an inverted or sideways letter. Misspellings are rare. Unlike more modern coins made with hubs (the entire design on a steel positive makes the working die in one process) - these dies were punched one letter at a time. Your coin also has positional (spacing) and angular variations (Rotation - letters that are not radial) seen in the date and almost every word on the die. You seem also to have a rotational repositioning of the S in HISPAN although, with the photos present, I can not be 100% certain it is not simply damage to the lower tail.

The value of the variations in letter orientation are for die identification. They are very similar to the Overton Half dollars in this regard. But the ability to identify a particular die imparts no value unless the variant is impressive.

JimmyD Welcome to the world of Spanish Colonial coins. These issues were used in the US and to a lesser extent in Canada as money during the colonial eras. England restricted silver imports to her colonies so local business was forced to import coins from other sources. Mexico was the world's largest producer of silver and silver coins. In the US in 1840 the US mint estimated that 90% of all circulating silver coinage was Mexican. So what you have is one of the coins that circulated widely in North America and the Caribbean before local silver currencies existed in great numbers.

I was raised in New England but came to love Mexican coins once I realized that they were the actual money used by my ancestors.

There are innumerable interesting varieties and because of large mintages they are still relatively inexpensive. I happen to collect circulating counterfeit versions because many of those were actually made in the US. It is a complex but extremely interesting series.

Enjoy.