Need Opinions On Fake 2 Reales

That is a typical late Republic forgery. They were Mexican in origin and used the emerging technique of Impact Transfer to make dies. They were struck in copper, bronze and sometimes white metal. They were covered with different plates - silver, tin etc as well as paint. The forgers got quite adept at forging dies with impact technique so that most of the forgeries from the period have essentially correct appearances. They were also smart enough to use a simple edge mill to duplicate the correct edge. A few have plain edges.

I have three double row boxes full of this type of counterfeit (about 600). They were made in all silver denominations including the 1/4R. The 2Rs are the most common followed by the 8R (not included in my count) then the 1R, 4R and 1/2R. The 1/4Rs are by far the scarcest. An interesting study is a compliation of various fantasy assayer initials from this period. They seemed to get the mint mark correct most of the time but assayer initials vary wildly.

Most of these copies were for the local Mexican market and most surviving copies can be traced directly to Mexico. There was a large hoard (thousands) recovered in Northern Mexico a few years back. Most copies available today seem to trace to that horad. I do not suspect that many of these were made in the US. There are some which use a very formal looking square font that were apparently of european origin (possibly France) and date to the same period that produced the "military style" buttons featuring coin designs.

Earlier (pre-1857) copies of minor Mexican coins are in fact quite scarce. There are a few Sheffield plate copies and even fewer German Silver forgeries of minor denominations.

swamperbob- Thank you very much! It is really good to see you on the forum again.

Sorry for the delayed response. I Just got back from a business trip to South America, and while there did not have internet access.

As always, swamperbob, you prove to be the master. I am glad to hear that this coin is a contemp. counterfeit rather than a modern one. Out of curiosity, what were the circumstances in which the hoard of these was recently uncovered? Also, do you have any idea as to the value of this coin?

(Edited due to original odd phrasing due to being jet lagged haha)

Thanks, swamperbob! So this counterfeit, which I would grade F12, is actually worth a few bucks more than a real one of this date and mint in F12? wow..