I have had this coin for about 5 years and might sell it next week. How are these graded? Since Santiago mint is low was the quality of minting also low? 2005 Krause World Coin Value is VG $500 - F $1250 - VF $2000 - XF $3500. What % should I get from a Dealer specializing in Spanish coins? 50% ? 70% ? Thanks
Can you provide a photo ..if so you probably can get a good idea of the grade from someone in the forum.
Howdy surfintroy - Welcome to the Forum !! The values in Krause can be multiples too high - or too low. It all depends on the coin. But if you can post a pic - I'm sure we can help you out.
Pix Here's a couple pix, the coin is dished toward face. I haven't attempted to clean, it has some scale on it too.
Bought it a a flea market! I found this 8 reale at a flea market, the seller was a old hispanic man who dealt with US coins. I asked him if it was real he took the coin and bent down to grind it on cement! Of course I stopped him! Paid my $10 and scurried home with my new find.
that's very odd. The bust seems to have flatness around the detail, but the reverse is in exceptional shape under the toning and what might be a little grime. Maybe it's just the pictures, but I would expect to see more detail in the bust with a reverse like that. I'm sure there is a very good reason.
Details, details, details... To me the dish of the coin IS why the bust is worn more - the bust is the highest area. I think it's highly unlikely to be any type of copy as: absolutely has no air bubbles in details, was already inspected by of of the few experts in spanish coins about 3 years ago, I /you would have heard of copies in the last 5 years of any Santiago minted coins of this date - don't know about other dates.
Based on that pic I can't tell if it has air bubbles or not, but I can tell that it does have small raised bumps all over the surface. I suspected possible corrosion at first - but corrosion causes pits, not raised bumps - casting does however. As for the expert inspection, just out of curiosity - who was it ?
your 1786 Santiago 8 Reales You appear to have a very interesting coin. The 1991 edition of Monedas Españolas by Cayón & Castán give a value of 300,000 Ptas., which at that time would have been more than $2000. While the value would be expected to differ noticably now, 14 years later. The most helpful feature is that the coin at that time was valued many time higher than those of other Spanish colonial mints of the same year. Bottom line--the coin may well be valuable if it can be determined to be authentic. The obverse seems to show significant indication of perhaps corrosion such as that due to land burial and subsequently cleaned. Yet the coin shows significant patina that would rule out this theory. Careful evaluation by an authority in such coinage would be well worth the effort.
If Dan bought it then it's certainly genuine and I'm sure you got a fair price. It also shows why a coin needs to be seen in person to know for sure. Pics can be quite misleading. Congrats !!