wfdowns3

I bought this old coin from an antique shop for $5, he had it listed as "old coin" and it looked old and interesting enough for me so I bought it. I have tried to do research and figure out what it is and it looks like an old spanish coin but that may not even be correct. Can anyone help me on this? Maybe a date about when it was made? Thanks!

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AdamL

Looks old and spanish to me. Maybe a 6 reales coin??? I'm not sure though. Someone else who is more knowledgeable will probably come around.

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wfdowns3

yeah, It kinda looks like a 2 reales but the pillars on the coin are the main difference between the two. I should note that it's about the size of a quarter and as you can tell it has seen better days..it's very worn down around the edges.

GDJMSP

It is a 1 reale struck at the Mexico City mint between 1553 & 1555. The assayer was Luis Rodriguez. I do believe it is genuine. For $5, you got quite a bargain. But you wouldn't be able to retire or anything if you sold it, but it might buy a nice dinner

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wfdowns3

Thanks GDJMSP! That's very helpful! I was trying to look it up online though, what you just told me, and couldn't find anything under Luis Rodriguez..do you happen to have a photo of what the coin should look like described as you said? Also do you know how much it might be worth in the condition it is...i'm sure not a whole lot. I did find this though when I was searching: http://www.vcoins.com/world/parscoin...p?idProduct=97
The only thing that I can tell is different is it has a "D" to the left side of the shield where mine has an "I" it looks like. Any ideas? It says that one is from Carlos y Juana Mexico City Mint...I'm sure that one letter is the difference in the 2 people, you seem to know what your talking about, I just don't know where to look! Thanks for the help.

wfdowns3

I think I found something! Look on this site here and tell me what you think: http://www.anythinganywhere.com/comm...ics/mexico.htm Here's the closeup: http://www.anythinganywhere.com/comm...-late-lm-1.jpg Looks like the exact same coin to me! Better condition but the same...

GDJMSP

That is indeed the same coin. What you think is an I is actually an L, and that is the initial for the assayer.

As for value, like I said it's not much. These coins were some of the last of what is called the Late Series for the early Mexico mint. They are rather more common than a lot of the other coins in this series. And with the damage, you might get $50 on a good day - $30 on a bad day.

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wfdowns3

thanks very much for the help, i am more than happy to finally know what i have..i have been trying to figure it out for a while now with no luck. nah, $50 or even $30 isn't a ton of money but it's for sure better than $5, what I paid for it, so i'm happy.