1802 Mexico City 8 Reales - Counterfeit?

Sorry...my original pics were too large.

I have a limited time to get my money back from the dealer, so I may need to let them know I have misgiving about--please chime in soon if you have any thoughts!

I was only able to check on two sets of old postal balances--they gave a result between 1.0 ounce and 1.1 ounce inside a standard 2x2 flip. So it seems this coin is at full weight or overweight. My best guess is it that it is not predominantly silver--something heavier and softer, perhaps lead, is a component....just a suspicion.

Wish I had access to a better pair of balances today....

UPDATE!

I asked my local coin dealer to weigh the coin, and it is 26.7 g....which is spot on. He was certain it is silver and said he would have bought it, too, and said it certainly looks old.

The reverse does show some staining that looks like rust. Perhaps the brownish red toning cames from some environmental factor that involved rust.

With the appropriate weight, is there a chance it could be genuine?

The coin is very likely silver of the correct alloy. But I seriously doubt it was created in 1802. Based on the edge irregularities ONLY - I think the coin may be a "Boston" style bullion forgery produced in the US for the China trade between 1870 and 1930.

The edge is wavy - the distance between the edges of the circle and square design moves far too quickly from well centered to not centered. To me that indicates the coin was edged on a flat bar mill WITHOUT retaining lips on the bar. A second more critical point is the NON ROUND circles. This was usually the result of a crude method of die cutting on the edge die. Some of the circles have SQUARE corners particularly on the outside of the circles.

The fact that the "Boston style" forgeries are silver and about 100 years old makes MOST dealers and collectors refer to these coins as REAL. But like the Micro-O US silver Dollar are really circulating replicas or restrikes (forgeries) made to take advantage of the low silver value versus face value.

At the point in time when these "dollar" coins were produced - they contained less silver than $1.00. At times this intrinsic value was as low as 35 cents per dollar. That was one reason silver dollars circulated so poorly. They contained too little metal. But as we all know that
changed dramatically in the 1950's.

There are quite a few I would trust - Ponterio being the biggest. But there are numerous ebay dealers who are excellent - too many to name for fear of offending anyone by omitting them from a list.

As I have said a few times, the "Boston type" forgeries are extremely difficult to identify and most dealers - even the good ones - treat them as real since they are full weight and did circulate. Your dealer could be top tier and still may not be able to identify one of these Class 2 counterfeits. They are too much work for the average level of expertise and I argue with many long time collectors about their very existence. That is why I spent years proving (documenting in period sources) the origins of these coins before I ever went public with the story.

My case was supported very recently by a pair of articles in Coin World which in general acknowledged the existence of this class of full weight counterfeit / replica / restrikes. So I feel far more certain that my long held theories will ultimately win when they are fully published.

Until then, most dealers and collectors will treat these coins as real.

Thanks, Mathieu, for suggesting some good sellers.

Before sending the coin back, I did some comparison overlays with an NGC slabbed 1802 Mo FT. Please draw your own conclusions--I would say master counterfeiter/engraver, if not escaped dies: