Spanish 8 reale purchase

I bid on several of these this year before winning this one a few days ago. Philip V 8 reale minted in Mexico City 1737, assayers MF (Manuel de la Pena and Francisco de la Pena). Pillars of Hercules capped by two royal crowns. 27.01 g. This coin is a delight to hold in hand.

 

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Oddly enough, I am having a bad feeling about this coin. I have seen a horrid amount of counterfeited examples of such coins but I am really hoping that you didn't get stung. I personally recommend you to contact swamperbob on coincommunity.com and ask for his opinions. He's the expert in such coins. You can check the world coin section and see how much examples he declares to be fake - one of the reasons why I never dared to collect such coins.

(No, I am not advertising for his behalf nor the forum but I do acknowledge his expertise in this field)

 

This coin was purchased from a well-known coin auction firm that has done business for many years. I chose that route specifically for the reason you state - there are many 8 reale counterfeits around, and though I see nothing wrong with the coin when it is in hand, the weight checks out, it is not magnetic, and the edges are correct, I know there are some elusive fakes. One only has to turn to previous discussion threads on these coins at CT to see how difficult the matter is.

Thanks for your advice, though I'm unsure that anyone would be able to confirm or deny authenticity by photo in this particular case. They would need the coin in hand.

 

acanthite:
You do realize that the scalloped edge is an after-mint effect.
Otherwise nice, if the price was right.

 

Sure enough, post a nice looking coin and someone will claim it is fake.

 

Especially when it comes to columnarios. Everyone is spoiling to diss 'em.

 

I was just about to ask about that. Can someone inform me as to the purpose behind the scalloping, if any? Thanks.

 

The scalloping is an effect of the edge design used on these coins to stop people from filing off small quantities of silver from the edges. Any disturbance of the edge design would be immediately apparent. These coins were struck using a screw press unlike the older cobs, and a special collar was used to produce the design which 'resembles a tulip'. A picture of the edge of the above coin:



That's what I understand of it, anyway, based on the information I have on the subject.

 

Nice. Gotta love edge devices.

 

willie:
please re-read my posting, I never said that the coin was a fake.
I was just alerting him to the edge and the scalloping, in the event aht he was not aware that it was post-mint.

I try to be careful in my words, and never stated fake.

 

Thank you Doug, that's a great deal more information than I was able to come up with on the matter of scalloping. And it explains nicely why there is such a variable degree of it from coin to coin (in some cases it isn't visible from the coin face). This one just happens to have a lot.

 

Doug:
I have never heard that before, and never seen one like that.
I guess that I have to be more attentive in the future.

 

My post did not refer to "Treashunt" but to the "having a bad feeling...horrid amount of counterfeited examples" post.

 

willieboyd2, yes I know. I'm not the expert but I do see posts by swamperbob which I highly recommend anyone who buys such coins to contact him. Do check coincommunity.com and see some posts by him - they are at least entertaining and infomative.

 

GDJMSP
Thanks for the pictures, I learn something every day!

 

Very cool coin !! I really love these,but they tend to be a bit hard to get in Britan at the moment !

 

Darn it !

Now I have to have one.
You guys are corrupting and bankrupting me, you know ?