Hello to all...Well maybe I haven't seen enough bad regal edges from Lima, but this one has me scratching my head for a number of reasons.
The specs are: Weight - 26.7g; Diameter - 39 to 39.5mm; SG - 10.2. The second decimal place number was high on both the wet weight and the final weight but if you drop both, the SG is a solid 10.2.
Since Lima was known for inconsistent assays and weights, that may explain the data. However, I can only see one overlap between the "L" and "U" in Carolus and to me the edge show signs of silver theft. However when you consider how much silver would have to be removed to cut off so much edge near the date, including half of the 6, the coin should weigh much less than it does. It doesn't make sense to me that a silver thief would make his work so obvious, leading me to think that this is just a poorly cut planchet.
If you look behind Charles head just above the bow you will see a faint die clash. I don't see any part of a device on the reverse that would match that shape! So... could this have been struck on another type of coin?
Granted the edges are a mess, but it looks to me like a fairly consistent strike on a defective, sloped edge with what looks like tool marks or circulation damage in various places.
For a coin with so little wear the strike seems weak and I would suspicion rusty dies were used. What truly baffles me is that we have a near 40mm flan with almost no denticles and part of the date and legend missing on the obverse. An off center strike could do this but then you would expect to see fully struck denticles at 180° and the reverse would be off center as well. I have seen many poorly made Lima pieces of Ferdinand VII but I attribute that to the fact that they were made during revolutionary times. 1796 was a fairly stable time in Peru, so I am surprised that this didn't get pitched back in the remelt bin. Unless it was not made by the mint.
Yes, yes I know...XRF testing could help. I'm still working on that regarding my last two posts.
So what do you think?
1796 Lm 8 Reales
Posted 04/15/2017 7:14 pm
