Coin Community Family of Web Sites Join Thousands of Coin, Bullion, & Money Collectors
Coin, Banknote and Medal Collectors's Online Mall Vancouvers #1 Coin and Paper Money Dealer Shop for APMEX Bullion on eBay!Royal Canadian Mint products, Canadian, Polish, American, and world coins and banknotes. Specializing in Modern Numismatics Join Thousands of Coin, Bullion, & Money Collectors 300,000 items to help build your collection!








Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?


This page may contain links that result in small commissions to keep this free site up and running.

Welcome Guest! Registering and/or logging in will remove the anchor (bottom) ads. It's Free!

Ferdinand And Isabella Reales, Is It Real?

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.
Author Previous TopicReplies: 4 / Views: 12,255Next Topic  
New Member
tha-fahs-kseilo's Avatar
United States
10 Posts
 Posted 07/20/2009  8:31 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add tha-fahs-kseilo to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Ferdinand-And-Isabella-Reales,-Is-It-Real?

Ferdinand-And-Isabella-Reales,-Is-It-Real?

I picked this up really cheap on a chance from ebay. It was listed as medieval English. On receiving it, I found it to be a Ferdinand and Isabella, probably 2 Reales. It is 25mm in diameter. Not sure o weight. Very smooth edges. Good silver color and black tarnish (not brass colored as in the picture, that's just lighting).

However, the coin is suspicious to me because the designs and lettering are very crude compared to examples I saw on the internet.

Can anyone tell me more?
Moderator
Learn More...
echizento's Avatar
United States
23731 Posts
 Posted 07/20/2009  9:20 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
, to the community.

Detail on this coin looks very crude and I see what looks like signs of casting. Not and expert on this type of coin, but I'm going to say a cast reproduction.
Moderator
Learn More...
Sap's Avatar
Australia
16817 Posts
 Posted 07/20/2009  9:33 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Alas, this one is indeed fake. The quality of the engraving is too low, the letters in the legends are all garbled and the surface has a porous look; either the coin or the dies the coin was made form are cast copies and, given the garbling, probably copies of copies of copies...

You say it looks silvery, but I suspect in this case the camera is telling truer than your eyes; I'd be surprised if it really were made of silver. Apparently these were made relatively recently, as tourist fakes for sale or giving away at pirate-themed tourist traps and such places.

Fakes of these coins do crop up from time to time here on the forum. Here's an old thread with another one, very similar to yours. Here's another, where the design is somewhat closer to the original.
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
New Member
tha-fahs-kseilo's Avatar
United States
10 Posts
 Posted 07/20/2009  10:19 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add tha-fahs-kseilo to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I was afraid of that. I'll try to return it to the seller. Hopefully my next purchase will go better :)
Pillar of the Community
swamperbob's Avatar
United States
5362 Posts
 Posted 07/21/2009  09:25 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add swamperbob to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I concur - it is a tourist copy originally sold wrapped in an "aged" parchment which tells the story of what it is. These are still being sold and none are marked COPY as they should be. I have one someplace in my files as it was sold. But of course I can't locate it right now. The appearance is VERY similar if not identical to this one.

I believe the legal argument used to justify not adding COPY is that the coin is actually a fantasy. The legends as was pointed out are blundered and in fact they use non existant letters. So the producers can argue that COPY is not required since an Original never existed.

That is a legal argument that I do not support because it takes advantage of the novice collectors but it is an argument that has been used successfully for centuries. It is the nature and basis of the entire EVASION grouping of counterfeits.
  Previous TopicReplies: 4 / Views: 12,255Next Topic  

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.



    




Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Coin Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Family- all rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Coin Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited.
Contact Us  |  Advertise Here  |  Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

Coin Community Forum © 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Forums
It took 0.21 seconds to rattle this change. Forums