Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Numismat, post: 1327622, member: 15019&quot;]Yesterday I received a group of coins. Pictures weren&#039;t the best and kind of far away. After examining the coins I found two of them to be counterfeit. Before sending them back to the seller, I just wanted to share with all of you. </p><p>I also added a third coin to this post, which I had and passed on to a counterfeit collector a while back. I felt it was interesting because it&#039;s completely a different type than the two I just got.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first: Contemporary counterfeit 8 reales, dated 1842 from Zacatecas mint.</p><p><br /></p><p>Riddell cataloged this type as #274 and assayed it as being near .150 silver content. I couldn&#039;t get an electromagnetic response from this one, as expected for such a low fineness. Oddly enough, the size and weight are acceptable. It weighs 26.5 grams, which actually seems slightly too high for this condition on a genuine coin, but it would be accepted by many.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Numismat/008-4.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Numismat/007-3.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The second: Modern numismatic forgery of Durango 1914 peso.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was a bit bummed out about this one. Always wanted one. It&#039;s the only general issue coin I can think of that has a death threat on it. The weight is lower than Krause reference weigh, but well within the range listed in specialty references for Mexican Revolutionary coins.</p><p>The edge is what got me. The obverse and reverse seem to be cast, while the edge is sharply struck. These normally have a plain edge or one with signs of crude reeding. There is a type described as having &quot;coarse reeding&quot;, but it would have had some different design elements.</p><p>I also did not get an electromagnetic response from this one, which leads me to believe it has either really low silver content or none at all.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Numismat/005-4.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Numismat/006-4.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Numismat/009-3.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The third: Genuine stamp on debased silver planchet (contemporary).</p><p><br /></p><p>So apparently some genuine dies from the Guanajuato mint fell into the wrong hands in the early 1830&#039;s. All that needed to be done was to add the last digit of the date and the assayer initials, and they were good to go.</p><p><br /></p><p>The result is a mostly genuine stamp on a lower weight and much lower silver purity planchet. The parts that had to be filled in to the generic die usually show slight differences.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Numismat/0072.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Numismat/008-3.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Not sure how many of you out there care about this stuff, but I hope it makes for a worthwhile read. =)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in