Ferdinand & Isabella 4 Reales

harasha

First set is the coin recently won at auction. The second set, purchased from Keith Candiotti 8 years ago. Appearance is due to sea salvage.

PillarDollarCollector

I like them congrats!!

bronzemat

Yeah, I don't like the look of the first one either. I could see why you are concerned with it. I would send it back despite what the dealer says, they aren't always right.

realeswatcher

harasha wrote in his other post:

4 reales of Ferdinand & Isabella, described as lightly oxidized, gram weight provided. Upon receipt, it did not appear right. So-called oxidation appeared to be something else. The weight was within parameters, but the diameter was questionable. Most alarming, the planchet was thicker than expected for a hammered piece....... (The auction house) simply said that some planchets are thicker than other and wrote, "Notice how portions of the legends are off the flan."

Would need MUCH higher-res pics of that top piece in question to even attempt to form a judgment from afar.

There is obviously some surface roughness present, but impossible to judge whether that could in fact be casting porosity from those pics. The rim area by the dot divider between "REGINA" and "CAST..." is curious... but again, can't tell from those pics.

Ferd & Isab 4R - even just within Seville mint issues - can indeed vary greatly in diameter (very large diameter pieces - which are closer in size to a 1700s milled colonial 8R - in fact are a desired subtype). I will also say that there is something about the physical "character" or "fabric" of many of the Reyes Catolicos 4R that kind of can give one the impression of modern forgery (most notably, many of them can have somewhat of a rounded look around the rim that sort of sets off a molded/cast alarm).

Also should be noted that there is a ring of IDs on eBay (and a Spanish site) that have been selling fake cobs (this is technically not considered a cob, but for simplicity...) out of Europe (Spain, "Gibraltar", Germany... I suspect Spain is the actual source) - many of which are peninsular Spain. These include several Ferd & Isab 4R... though yours is not a match, it just shows they do exist.

harasha

@realeswatcher I really appreciate your posts, for this discussion and the other one. Most informative. I will look forward to your postings on other discussions.