Help Identify My Carolus IV 1807 Coin Is Genuine Or Fake

One of our experts on Spanish colonials will give you an answer.

In my opinion the coin appears to be a Numismatic Forgery made to deceive coin collectors. The obverse appears to be double struck. There are however signs of the coin being a forgery. The fields are not smooth. The details of the first laurel leaf are incorrect, the font shape for the 0 and the 7 are not standard (allowing for doubling of course). The weight is incorrect, and the edge design is absolutely wrong in many respects.

I would suggest that the coin should be checked for specific gravity to see if it is about 10.3 g/ccm or not. I would also suggest an XRF test looking for the presence of arsenic in the silver as a trace contaminant.

realeswatcher Do you really think that the edge is correct for Lima? The design elements are too small for the Lima design - it looks far more like a Mexico City style design that fails to fill the entire edge.

The first edge picture shows a line segment above the colonial design - that looks wrong to me. The spacing between the rectangles and circles in that same picture varies.

The second edge picture shows very clearly that the edge above the traces of the design angles inward toward the center of the coin. It gives prima fascia evidence of edge grinding.

The second and third pictures can be matched (the center of the second picture is at the extreme right of the third). That accounts for about half of the edge being essentially blank opposite a clear die impression that wobbles up and down. Remember that opposite side impressions typically match in depth and wobble (if there is any).

The final edge picture is for me the really bad one. At the center there are vertical lines on the edge which simply do not belong. What would be the cause of such lines?

Remember that NONE of the Spanish Colonial branch mints filed the edges of the coins for weight adjustment. All records I am aware of refer to filing across the faces of the coin. Filing the edge would slow the edging process by allowing for added slippage between the edge die and the planchet.

I reviewed the pictures again and stand by my original opinion that the details of this coin look wrong for Lima. I think we are dealing with a Numismatic Forgery recently made to deceive collectors.