I am fascinated by these coins, and their history/design, but want to learn more before forking out big money. Any book recommendations?
If you want to collect the 8 Reales here's you're bible.. Counterfeit Portrait Eight-Reales: The Un-real Reales: Volume 1 (Counterfeit Eight-Reales) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1500497177/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_I8zxxbBT22GY1 Swamperbob from CCF knows everything there is it's his book. I've just bought one. I'm only interested in them once my ancestors had their hands on them.. Bank of England and Ireland dollars (complete over strikes) Caribbean cut and counterstamped British Honduras Dominica I also have a 1 real from Jamaica stamped. Great coins
Milled reales must be super fun to collect. I only have one, a 1738 half reale. I love it just as much as my Seateds.
I have slightly over 50 pillars from four of the mints, excluding Chile and Columbia which are above the price level I collect. About a dozen are "raw" with the balance in NGC or PCGS holders and the grades range from G-6 to MS-65. Most of them are 1/2R and 1R because the 2R and 4R are much scarcer and more expensive and I have never focused on the 8'S because they are usually a lot more common and also more expensive than most of the coins I own. I don't own any portrait coinage because I don't care for the type much and I also don't own any cobs or Carlos and Joanna either. As for books, Pillars and Portraits I don't own but its the best one I know covering both. For pillars, I think Gilboy's "The Milled Columnarios of Central and South America" is presumably better because it is a lot more recent (1999). I bought mine in 2002.
Here is a specific 8 reales thread https://www.cointalk.com/threads/8-reales-spanish-empire-and-peninsulars-for-all.258294/
Be careful in buying these coins, there are tons of fakes being sold. Personally I only buy slabbed ones.
I presume the fakes you see are disproportionately or entirely for the 8R. The demand and prices for the other denominations doesn't make it anywhere near as lucrative.
I have a number of these coins. I make it a point to purchase only those with considerable wear and especially ones that are holed. Why? I like coins that I know passed through many hands from the past, pirates and peons to bankers and bakers, and ones least likely to have been recently counterfeited.
Some would agree like a lot of the U.S. series like U.S. Colonials have hit the WALL in terms of elevated prices but withe start of the MNA and these new Whitman Bailey books Spanish American coins are just starting to get popular ... IMO ... a great investment series ... what is the most popular silver coin that ever circulated? The Gurney book is great to prevent most people in buying Portrait fakes but also gives you a good education like checking the third side ... which many people never consider important. JPL
From an "investment" standpoint, the biggest obstacle is the lack of supply of "high quality" specimens. Even most higher grade Spanish colonials aren't really that attractive compared to early US federal coinage which is more comparable. The difference between US colonials and Spanish colonials is that US collectors are willing to pay high prices because the coins are more distinctive while Spanish colonials are part of longer series and though the most widely circulated coins in colonial America, not really thought of as US colonial issues since they are excluded from guidebooks such as the Red Book.
