Spanish coin

[dopey8358]

I have the opportunity to purchase this coin and am looking to see if it is authentic or if someone can tell where it is from. i ave done some research on the subject and know it is a Spanish reale of the shield type. see pics below. the info i have on it: 4.5 grams and approx 22.5 mm in diameter. it appears to have an I and an R on either side of the shield. i have not been able to figure out what mint it may be from or if it is a repro coin. no discernible date on either side that i can see. all i have are these two pictures. any help is greatly appreciated!

 

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[BioProfessor]

So many of these coins have been reproduced for jewelry and fraud, it is virtually impossible to tell. If you really want to purchase it and it is from a reputable dealer or a known seller, I would find a way for the payment (if it is significant) to be held in escrow until you can have the coin slabbed and it comes back as real not a forgery or reproduction. Once it is slabbed as real, it is reale. Could resist.

Daryl

 

[Mackaydon]

Before 1728, New World 8 reales coins were to weigh 27.46 grams.(the 4 reales 1/2 the weight of the 8, the 2 reales half the weight of the 4 and etc.)
The one real coin should then weigh about 3.43 grams, and the 2 reales about 6.8 grams. Your coin weighs 4.5 grams; seemingly in between the 'proper' weights.

Using Felipe V cobs as an example of diameter, his one real 'presentation' piece's diameter is 27mm; and the half real presentation piece measures 16-18 mm. Again, your coin, measuring 22.5 mm seems to be a 'tweener'.

I draw no inference from this, only an observation.
What does the seller tell you about the coin?

 

[CRUSADER]

Welcome from the UK.

Never one to hold back an opinion, I will chance my arm & say it looks real.

 

[Michigan Badger]

I have the opportunity to purchase this coin and am looking to see if it is authentic or if someone can tell where it is from. i ave done some research on the subject and know it is a Spanish reale of the shield type. see pics below. the info i have on it: 4.5 grams and approx 22.5 mm in diameter. it appears to have an I and an R on either side of the shield. i have not been able to figure out what mint it may be from or if it is a repro coin. no discernible date on either side that i can see. all i have are these two pictures. any help is greatly appreciated!

I've sold hundreds of these early Spanish cobs/coins on ebay. Every now and then somebody yelled FAKE! Most of the time these were people who had no idea what they were talking about.

All my coins and cobs were purchased from one of the most reliable sellers of Spanish coins known today. He always gave me a 100% guarantee of authenticity.

I'll share this with you and trust me almost nobody will agree with this but it's the absolute truth.

1. Very very few of the old Spanish coins or cobs sold on ebay are fakes. The reason for this is simple. There are millions of them out there and it's cheaper in many cases to sell the genuine than a fake. A good fake usually costs more than a common date/type genuine cob. But any knowledgeable person can spot these fast. It's really easy when two cobs exactly alike show up for sale.

I retired from the coin business so I'm not pushing my ebay coin sales.

Now listen up very closely. The fakes are easy to ID once in hand. They stand out like a neon sign on a pitch-dark night. The reason is because they were done by someone with little skill in some basement somewhere, not a true pro. But if you've ever seen the genuine the fakes are usually easy to spot. They may fake the design but they can't fake the metal texture with embedded salts, etc. A good microscope tells the whole story.

However, many genuine Spanish cobs (silver and copper) may look fake due to the cleaning process used.

I've read on here lots of times about a cob being fake due to "rounded edges." These "rounded edges" happen because most shipwreck encrusted cobs spend time in a rock tumbler. Some use electrolysis and then the cob goes into the rock tumbler for 1-24 hours to smooth it's ruff surface and make it shinny (most buyers prefer this). Rock tumblers are great but if overused they do "round edges" and can even distroy basic detail. Thus I just busted the "round edges" myth.

2. Many so-called "experts" have limited knowledge and will sometimes make wild calls they can't substantiate. Just because a coin is pronounced genuine or fake by a professional grading firm doesn't mean the call was accurate. Many highly cleaned coins and cobs will appear fake to all but the most knowledgeable in that field.

Once I sold a lot of Spanish cobs to a man in Austrialia. He wrote back and said he had just recieved word from his "professional grading" firm that they were all "cheap brass tokens." I knew this was false because I had cleaned these myself. I offered a refund but also informed the buyer as to the truth. He checked and found out I was right and the grading firm was dead wrong.

So, beware of these so-called expert "grading" services.

Not too long ago a college in Western Michigan decided to sell a large collection of super valuable ancient relics that someone had donated. These were all said to be genuine. Another group of "experts" checked these relics just prior to auction and found them all to be fakes.

THE SUM: When buying valuable items off ebay, check the sellers feedback and length of time selling. Start small and work your way up to buying the high dollar stuff. At first avoid the hard cleaned cobs and coins. These are very difficult to verify and they often fool the "experts" because they "look too good to be true" (usually they are true).

If you plan to invest in a major way into this type of thing, you must study. You can not trust the words of others completely. You must get the facts yourself and know what the real thing looks like.

HB (Happy Buying)

Badger

 

[Mackaydon]

The shield on your coin (or replica) is called a Hapsburg shield; first used during the reign of Philip II (1556-1598) and last seen on these cobs during the reign of Charles II (1665-1700).

 

[BioProfessor]

Badger is 100% correct about the grading services. Stay with the top 2 or 3. They offer grading service for this type of coin and I believe they can be trusted.

Daryl