Mexico 1804 MO Th Carolus IIIi 8 Reales Is It Genuine?

Could you please show us the edge and the weight?

I don't see anything wrong at first, but these two parameters are important.

Regards

txabs I am unable to post anything other than these two seller photos, it's not my coin. My concern was the frosty surfaces like a newly issued coin, but flat details with possible artificial aging. I am looking for one of these right now and was considering this coin. My gut says something is not right but I can't nail it down.

I'm no expert either, but I have fakes and it looks like a good coin to me.

I hope you didn't buy it. It has a chop or test mark on the obverse so someone suspected a silver plated counterfeit. Also the seam along the obverse rim from 1:00 to 5:00 is indicative of a silver plated edge.

This probably explains why I read someplace that some coin collectors may have as much as 10% counterfeit coins without knowing it. Based in photo alone it fooled me.

Albert You may have heard something similar to that in some of my posts.

I was trained as an authenticator in the 1970s and have been at it on and off, first as a part timer then as a full timer, for most of the time since. Actually ebay was my last 40+ hour a week job as an authenticator and that used ONLY photos. Since first encountering ebay in 1999, I have become adept at the clues visible in pictures. In hand authentication is of course much easier and far more certain. I do not ascribe to the theory that a coin MUST be in hand to determine if it is a counterfeit/forgery. I would agree it is much better to be able to see and test the coin in person but you can not simply discard results from photos as some people do.

Authentication has a learning curve. The longer you do it the better you become. No one is perfect.

Typically when I review groups of 8 Reales I do find counterfeits - the rate varies according to the expertise an familiarity of the collector with the methods used to make 8Rs. I did a large dealer's personal collection of over 200 Portrait 8Rs and found 19 counterfeits/forgeries. This fellow was an average collector and had never developed a specialized understanding of the Portrait 8R.

Other collectors have faired much worse, but again that is dependent on how they were educated.

Before I started my book project, I reviewed my own collection of Portrait 8Rs in great detail. Some of the boxes of coin had not been reviewed in 30 years or more. I found 4 coins from my own collection that I had gotten wrong. Proving what I said above that we all make mistakes.

I will do a quick review of anyone's collection from photographs at no charge provided I can use the photos in the future. A complete written finding and description of each coin will typically cost $5 each. In hand reviews are undertaken at a cost plus basis but tests and costs are disclosed first. The cost starts at $5 per coin plus shipping costs both ways.