Hi all, evaluating a collection of coins for possible purchase and among these was this 1747 8 Reales. I specialize in US, so identifying counterfeit markers on these is a little "foreign" to me. The coin weighs 26.1g but appears intact and otherwise matches most of the photos I have seen for this date. Can anyone provide some insight as to the authenticity of this coin? If genuine, what would you estimate for grade? Thanks in advance!
At 1.6 grams underweight with that much detail still left on the coin makes me wonder a bit about it's authenticity. The details also look a bit mushy and not as crisp as they should be. Other than that though it certainly looks real enough. I'd say a grade of XF-DETAILS CLEANED.
GMS5, thank you! Not sure if it makes much of a difference in your opinion, but I'm showing the original weight should be around 27.06g, so it would be a little under 1g underweight. I had also read where several of these were recovered in a shipwreck, so would the mushy details ever be attributed to exposure from something like this? I have no idea if this was a shipwreck coin or not, but just trying to cover all bases. Thanks again!
Here is a shot of my Friends Rooswijk Shipwreck coin, and it looks much crisper on all the devices. Perhaps you could get it XRF'd and see what it's made of.
Ok, thanks for the help! I feel confident the coin is silver as it passes my "ping" test and definitely is not magnetic. If it's a fake, it seems like a pretty good one though. I'll have to see what my XRF options are and go from there.
26.1 g is all you need to know -- it never would have left the mint at that low weight. Also we generally expect to see more dentils -- they were placed on the die to help prevent shaving of the edges along with the edge design. In addition I see several misshapen details -- compare to good quality pictures of certified examples and you should see what I mean.
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