Ok, it's no secret that us World Coin collectors in the U.S. are outside the numismatic mainstream. This does not bother me in the least, in fact I enjoy this aspect of this hobby. One area where I do appreciate the advantage of "mainstream" is having the second opinon from a peer with similar interests when I am weighing the pro's and con's of a coin I am interested in. I had not seen, and thought I would start, a thread postured towards a buyer receiving a second opinion from like minded world coin collectors before the purchase or acquisition. This could be as simple as post the sellers pictures or you're pictures (no links please) along with your question or possible concern. I'll start off. I like Spanish 8 Reales (who doesn't), but don't own many and my experience with them is only a couple years. Below are sellers photos of two I am seriously considering. First: The Reverse of this coin I love, the Obverse is where I have a couple reservations. The rim nick at 10 O'Clock bugs me and the three dots between the lettering and the hair consern me. Second: This coin I like but the "business" between the forehead and rim along with the nick in the neck and behind the eye socket kinda bug me. The level of circulation is right where I'm looking for and the color is spot on for my tastes. My only conserns are stated above, what's your opinion?
It is hard to judge the surfaces of the second one from those pictures. The first one looks extremely attractive, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy it if I were in the market for such material. It seems like attractive, problem free examples of these are much harder to find - many of them are cleaned or ugly. However, I'll add this: if you see a mark in a picture, and it already bothers you, then it will probably always bother you. These are scarce, but not rare. You can always wait for a better one. This is the advice I give to everyone: if you are trying to convince yourself that you like this coin, despite an apparent flaw, you should probably pass.
Thanks for the insight and advice. I did buy the first one, 1794, and hope to to receive it next week.
STOP! There is an excellent book you need to own before you buy any more 8 reales, especially the colonial portrait series. "Counterfeit Portrait 8 Reales -- the Un-real Reales" by Robert Gurney. Much of this book is devoted to contemporary counterfeits but he explains about the late 18th -- early 19th century restrikes for the China bullion trade. These coins are difficult to tell apart from genuine just by looking at pictures of the obverse and reverse. You should also peruse the many posts by Mr. Gurney under the name "swamperbob" at coincommunity.com.
Looks like a very good reference book for this series. I located it and it's on my list as I believe I'll have continued interest in this area. Below is the coin in hand. Just arrived today. Thanks for everyone's insight. Continued welcome to opinions.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, these are difficult to distinguish between genuine and restruck. Here's something I'm reposting from another forum where we get a lot of requests for opinions on 8 reales. I think you have #1 covered.
Here is another 8 Reales I am considering but the "artificial toning" annotation by NGC catches my attention. When I saw the coin, the toning didn't strike me as a distractor or concern me as artificial. NGC has seen a lot more coins than I have so I respect their opinion but what is it they see that strikes this as artificial.
I ask because I don't see slot of difference between this coin below that is acceptable toning compared to the one above that is not.
