Posted 06/23/2023 01:47 am
We have seen these crude brass replicas of "Reyes Catolicos" Spanish reales many times on the forum before. The blundering of the legend is quite distinctive. You can find just a few examples in these old threads:
http://goccf.com/t/17297
http://goccf.com/t/68902
http://goccf.com/t/83190
http://goccf.com/t/130379
http://goccf.com/t/235661
Though we've literally seen dozens of them here on this forum over the years, I don't think anyone's come up with a definitive origin story for them. Your account is the only one I've seen with a 50 year old acquisition date. However, their sheer common-ness across the United States - and nowhere else - must mean they were mass-produced and mass-distributed in the United States; I strongly suspect they were gimmicky giveaways made by Reader's Digest (or some similar mass-marketing company) back in the 1960s, for advertising a book on Columbus or something like that. They would have originally been glued to a card or some such.
Your account of a 1972 date is insightful, as in 1973, America passed a law requiring such mass-distributed replica coins to clearly bear the word "COPY" on them (which these replicas always lack); your account is definite proof they pre-date this requirement.
http://goccf.com/t/17297
http://goccf.com/t/68902
http://goccf.com/t/83190
http://goccf.com/t/130379
http://goccf.com/t/235661
Though we've literally seen dozens of them here on this forum over the years, I don't think anyone's come up with a definitive origin story for them. Your account is the only one I've seen with a 50 year old acquisition date. However, their sheer common-ness across the United States - and nowhere else - must mean they were mass-produced and mass-distributed in the United States; I strongly suspect they were gimmicky giveaways made by Reader's Digest (or some similar mass-marketing company) back in the 1960s, for advertising a book on Columbus or something like that. They would have originally been glued to a card or some such.
Your account of a 1972 date is insightful, as in 1973, America passed a law requiring such mass-distributed replica coins to clearly bear the word "COPY" on them (which these replicas always lack); your account is definite proof they pre-date this requirement.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
