I collect mainly American coins, but my uncle died and his daughter sent me 60 of his coins, 25 of which were foreign. Of the foreign coins I saw nothing remarkable. One of the coins had a hole in it, but I thought I'd check it out on the internet, anyway. When I did, my eye caught the word "gold." (The coin was tarnished and it didn't occur to me it was gold.) I've never owned a gold coin before, but now I have one with a hole in it. I figure its value (meltdown) is about $110.
Not to be a downer, but that really doesn't look like gold. My first guess would be a reproduction or a formerly-plated contemporary counterfeit...?
I suppose one reason I posted this was to get a confirmation that it really was gold, though it hadn't really occurred to me that it wasn't, unless I had misidentified the coin. They wouldn't counterfeit a common coin like this, would they? You think it's a reproduction?
After some research, I suspect it isn't gold. I found this coin and this statement on this webpage: The fourth specimen was lot 12272 in Ponterio sale 169 (Baltimore, November 2012), where it sold for $258. The catalog description[3]noted, "SPAIN. 10 Escudos, 1868. 3.56 gms. Isabella II (1833-1868). Types of Fr-332; KM-616.2. Contemporary circulating counterfeit in gilt platinum. Much of the gold wash has worn away, revealing the platinum from which this coin was made. CHOICE VERY FINE. From the Estate of Michael K. Ringo." http://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/Spain_1868_10_escudos_(68)
It's a contemporary circulating counterfeit. These are actually valuable, especially the ones of gold escudos like yours. Unfortunately it has a hole, but it does not affect the value as much as it would had it been a genuine coin; the hole is likely a test punch and adds to the historical significance. I saw one like yours in a 4 escudo denomination sell for over $900 a few years back. It was in much better shape though. But either way this is a nice find that any collector of CC's would appreciate.
I did take the coin to a coin shop this morning and verified it is gold plated. Thank you, everybody, for bringing my attention to the fact it isn't a genuine gold coin.
I'm not certain if it's gold plated platinum - I do own a gold plated platinum but this does not seem right. Overall it looks more like brass. The only proper way to verify this is to find out the density of this coin. I'm not too sure how this can be done but this is the only way to verify what it is. The hole makes it difficult to give an accurate reading of what the original weight is supposed to be.
look how the higher areas in relief are brown because the plating wore off here first. The lower, protected areas are more gold in color. i can't imagine this thing being worth much but im unfamiliar with contemporary counterfeits as most dealers probably are. Best bet is sell it on ebay (if you're looking to sell)
Centsdimes, What I find interesting about your coin is that the legend says Ferdinand VII but the portrait is that of his father, Carlos IIII. There are few that were struck that way because it took a while to get the official portrait out to the various mints. So in a way, it is an authentic fake.
