Fake Mexican Silver Coins?

my friend got a mexican silver coin the other day, he was curious what's the black and orange stamp on the coin, is it a copy? or a fake? any feedback appreciated

thanks swamperbob!

I'm able to get a lot more information with the keyword "chop" instead of "stamp". it turned out these mexican coins were circulated in China as currency. that maybe also explained why "Why did they choose to counterfeit a common Mexican silver coin".

http://www.charm.ru/coins/misc/chopmarks.shtml

SilverBug

You said ....it turned out these Mexican coins were circulated in China as currency. that maybe also explained why "Why did they choose to counterfeit a common Mexican silver coin".

EXACTLY

The Mexican 8R was a true WORLD Trade dollar during and AFTER it ceased to be used for money at home.

The 8R is the standard for the Silver Dollar adopted by the US constitution and it was the economic basis of world stock markets. I doubt that when considered over all that any other coin has ever surpassed the 8R as a standard. As such it was also one of the most copied coins in the world.

I know of over 600 different counterfeit die varieties of the Portrait 8R alone. The number of forgeries of the Cap and Ray 8R is far higher - nearer 3,000 varieties now known.

It was also the dominant dollar coin used in the US until 1857 as attested by JL Riddell's 1845 estimate that 90% of all circulating coins were Spanish American or Mexican. It was current in Japan until 1893, the East Indies until 1895 and China until 1933. So it was counterfeited in many different countries at many different times - for DIFFERENT reasons.

It is one of the few coins that has been forged during the original period of circulation both as a "Debased" and as a "Full weight silver" forgery.

The Pillar and later the Portrait 8R coins were Colonial Era coins forged from the 1730s until the 1820s. It was as part of the War effort against Spain (1796) and later was forged as a "token" that saw use in many British colonies (ca 1795-1820). In the US forgers made 8Rs for about 3 centuries and only stopped in 1933 when they were demonetized in China.

So, yes, Common 8R coins were forged for every day use in commerce, as Tokens, as bullion forgeries to dispose of Comstock silver when the US stopped making dollars domestically and most recently as Numismatic forgeries to take advantage of Novice collectors opf coins and bullion.

I hope you can see why I love the series.

The 1968 25 Peso coin mentioned on the previous page - I too was unaware of copies, do you know if the copies are underweight and magnetic? As mine are bang on the money as far as weight and size.

lol I remember once at the swapmeet I seen a guy selling hundreds of fake 8 reales, hidalgos, and caballitos and I could tell they were big time fakes. So what I did to warn people that bought them (he was selling them as if they were genuine for like 20.00/ apiece) I pulled out my notepad and took a coin and wrote my name with the graphite-like coins lol I've never seen so much money demanded back in my life lol.

I write FAKE across them with indelible marker. The tourist shops are full of this trash, usually $.50 a coin.

By the time you get the marker off, the plating is gone. They're steel underneath.

yes, in time you will be able to spot these pretty easily. But always insist on good photography if buying on-line, and a good return policy. As for Bullion coinage, I only buy from JMBullion, from whom I have numerous uncirculated ASEs and Libertads. As for numismatic type silver, I carefully purchase as per the above.