1877 MO Mexico 8 Reales Fake?

bobstam The coin is real.

1. The Dragon's Teeth were first used in Mexico City in 1867 after the conversion back to 8Rs following Maximilian's removal as Emperor. The other branch mints phased in the use of Dragon's teeth in different dates. BUT all Standardized Dies have Dragon's Teeth unless excessive die lapping occurred.

2. The lines between the letters and the rim (at least the ones I see) are typical wear lines in the die caused by the flow of silver over the die surface after repeated strikes. It is the mark of a worn die. The problem occurs when you see curved flow lines that all bend in one direction. These non-radial flow lines are most often seen on worn injection molds. But the lines I see here are very consistent with how real dies wear.

3. The ray that looks "empty" appears to be the result of a post strike "hit" that gouged metal from the surface and rolled it back toward the cap. This is NOT what I have referred to in earlier posts as a "hollow" or outlined ray. In those cases the outlines are typical of the entire length of a ray not just a small portion seen here.

4. I think I understand your comment. The protected surfaces of the letters LIBERTAD often show parallel lines which were on the surface of the PUNCH used to create these letters. The lines are expected and typical of originals. On the die - the tops of these letters are above the level of the cap (which is a recessed die feature) but they are still below the die fields and are therefore protected. The lines being on an upper die surface, but not the uppermost, are not as subject to flow wear because they displace metal outward in all directions at the point of the strike. They are not like the letters at the edge of the coin which are infill.

5. The die crack (if that is what it is) at the upper right seriff of the H is a stress crack and is in a place that does concentrate stress. It is expected.

The edge detail is also correct for an 1877. It used a deeper than usual recurve and in my opinion marks the advent of the power edger at Mexico City. This coin blank appears to have made at least one full rotation in the edger. Coins from this time period which were edged on the new steam driven edgers often stuck in the apparatus and received multiple edging.

I could not tell what the final picture was or why you thought something there was wrong.

bobstam The stress crack at the H has been hammered down by circulation, but even so it looks OK to me. As a coin circulates the impact of other coins and objects can alter the shape of tiny details and that effect must always be taken into account.

MS grade coins (which you can examine at many coin shows without the expense of buying them) are a good place to start so that you can see what happens during the strike. After exposure to a few (dozen) high grade coins (from the correct era and mint) you can get a good feel for what the mint actually produced.

This is the fascination and difficulty of the series - the incredible number of variables. After 50 years, I keep learning (possibly re-learning) new details of methodology and limits. One thing I have found is that for every "RULE" in this series there seems to always be two exceptions. So be patient. After a while things suddenly get clear and you will say to yourself "how come I didn't see that before? It is so obvious."

Remember a few critical facts when dealing with this series:
1. Not all branch mints did things in the same way.
2. Not all branch mints used the same designs or fonts.
3. Technology was not introduced at all branches at the same time.
4. Technology did not always IMPROVE over time - there is regression at some branches.
5. Standardized dies were not introduced at all branches until late 1887.
6. Standardized dies does NOT indicate standardized striking technology.