Hello, recently my brother and Father were sifting through his coin collection which he has accumulated over the years. He had the usual things currency that is no longer valid coins from 1900ish. Then he showed us this little gem. He said he found it on a beach around 40-50 years ago when he was young. So this interested me, noticing the date I decided to ask the experts what it's worth. We've measured it and it was 22.0g of weight, and i've done the obvious google searches and came up with that is a mexican coin? But i know how reliable Google is. So i'd love to learn more about it and what it's current worth would be, if it is real. Pictures are as follows of the coin in it's current condition
I'm definitely not an expert on these, but from the pictures it doesn't look like the edges are also silver? If not it may be a clad or plated replica? It's almost too round for an old Spanish shipwreck coin. Wait for more replies.
Can't be an actual Atocha. The Atocha sank off the florida keys in a hurricane in Sept. of 1622. All Atocha 8 reales or pieces of 8 are first off about 27.5grams in weight for exeptional original specimens and as low as only a few grams. This can vary slightly due to how they were made but don't vary with enough widely. If they are circulated (highly unlikely because the ship didn't make it from south america back to spain) or erroded/worn away or fractioned out to make smaller denominations this can change the weight on a real coin. Second all are irregular shaped because they were heated and cut off in varying weights (spanish used 1/2, 1, 2, 4, and 8 Reales coins they could be cut apart to make change from higher denominations kind of like chop marks on coins from the far east) from thrown together bars. Due to the poorly constructed hand made dies the only details that are almost always visible and present are the mint that hammered the coin(s) so spain knew which new world colonies were sending them what bars and cobs, the assay's mark showing the quality i.e. the guaranteed weight for the denomination and purity of the metal, and the denomination itself such as 2 Reales. What you MAY have is a replica that was made from any ingots or bars found on the ship when it was salvaged. I know they did that with some of the gold bars from the S.S. South America or you could have another coin entirely as the only perfectly round coins from that period came from the actual european countries and again they don't match the insciption you have is what should be on an Atocha but is perfectly round and spanish 8 reales coins that are perfectly round from spain around 1714 are two pillars with something inbetween.
After doing some internet research on www.coindatabase.com/coin_spain_sort.php?pais=0&ano=1714 you very well may have a fake or real Mexican 8 Escudos. Form what I have found the cross on your coin seems to only appear on Gold 8 Escudos but has Hispaniarvm Indiarvm Rex and no date they range from 1700-1746. The shield side looks right except for the crown it should be arched above the shield and the top should be two arches. Yours lays flat on the shield and has a more intricate top than it should have. Hopefully it's at least real gold if you are looking to sell if not you have a family heirloom.
