This arose out of a discussion in another thread regarding counterfeits of the Mexican 8 reales. It seems to me that part of the the challenge in detecting such is that there's can be a lot of inconsistency in the dies and strike from year to year and between the different mints, much more so than with, say, the Morgan dollar. Here're a couple to illustrate my point. First, an 1880 Culiacan. On the reverse, the aspect of the Phrygian cap is very flat, and in fact its relief is so lacking that it's actually recessed with respect to the surrounding rays. On the obverse, the sections of the cactus are not connected to each other as is normal. The second is an 1879 Hermosillo. The coat of arms on this one exhibits numerous atypical characteristics. Note the distinct segmentation of the snake's body, that its tail end is in front of the eagle's wing rather than behind it, the extra detail in back of the eagle's eye, the coarseness of the feathers, the more hooked beak, the subtler depiction of the waves at the bottom. There's also an identifying die crack running from the back of the eagle's head over to the wing tip. Neither my collection of nor experience with these is extensive enough for me to judge just how unusual this one might be, but I fell in love with it when I saw it, the picture doesn't do justice to how much it stands out from other examples of the type from this period.
Wow. Found a terrific website on this topic. See: http://exonumismatics.com/mex/Cap-and-Rays.html#fake Lots of material to wade through, so I haven't perused it all yet, but what I have seen so far is just outstanding. A "must read" for anyone with even a passing interest in these.
