I bought this coin in the mid to late 90's during a Navy port visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I later showed it to a dealer who told me that it weighed out correctly but still wasn't sure about authenticity. I'm thinking about putting it on EBay but don't want to unknowingly list a fake, as there are already enough of those for sale with me adding to the problem. What do you guys think? Also, if it is genuine, does the Potosi mint mark carry a premium?
Pretty common date and MM and nothing looks wrong to me. You might do better locally than eBay, probably won't get more than $40-50 either way so save the 12%.
Unless one is truly an expert on these coins, and few are, it's very hard to detect many of the counterfeits. You might want to contact Dan Sedwick, send him pics of the coin and ask his opinion of its authenticity. He's usually quite helpful to most collectors. http://www.sedwickcoins.com/
I'd have to say it strongly suggests it's fake because there's no where near enough wear on that coin to account for the weight being that low.
So is it even worth asking Dan Sedwick for an opinion if the weight is truly a show stopper? Perhaps the coin is still worth something if it is a contemporary counterfeit, or if there are specific dates and or mints that were underweight?
Sure you can still ask him - couldn't hurt. But my guess would be that it's a modern Chinese fake as there are scads and scads of them out there. As for this - There aren't, certainly not for that series anyway. Now if it was a coin from Potosi that had been minted 150-200 years earlier ( I can't recall off the top of my head the exact date range), yeah it would a possibility. Back then there was a scandal that came to light where the Potosi mint was producing underweight coins. But the perpetrators were caught by the Spanish Crown, some were executed, others were tortured, others imprisoned. And that pretty much put an end to that ! By the time this series came along, the people at the mint toed the line.
Pretty coin, and I'm guessing not many counterfeits in the 90s. Pretty coin. I just sent (2) 1753, 1763 to NGC that graded VF details. Yours by comparison should be much higher, say XF?
Look at the pillars on the reverse. One should be able to read the inscription PLVS ULTRA (more beyond). With the PLVS heavily worn off the left pillar, and almost equal wear on the right, I think the actual condition closer to a fine +. The wear looks pretty even, including the rim, somewhat harder to fake. If it were to pass the magnet test and it also were dated to before 1781, I would have bought it at a price of about $45 and thought it a good addition to my collection of coinage used by the Revolutionary War era. By the way, I have found more variation in weight for these coins than one might imagine.
Hard to say through not really good photograhs, but...I do not like the coin, specially the rim. Weight is good enough. Potosi problem was around year 1640
I just emailed Dan Sedwick with a link to this thread and photos of the coin. I'm curious to hear his response. Even if the coin is fake I'm definitely enjoying and learning from this discussion.