Rare 8 Reales find in Hong Kong

TwoKopeiki

Got this one from a collector in Hong Kong who bought a large group of chopped 8 Reales. He didn't realize what he had until I messaged him on Instagram. We agreed on a price that both of us were happy about and it's on its way to me in Canada now. I'll need to do something about that PVC? and then into an album it goes.

Thanks to @OriginalDan for putting in a good word with the seller.

For those not familiar with the series, 1783 has the widely available assayer combination FF and a lot less common FM. This coin is the latter variety. In the last decade I've seen probably one example of this variety that had a shot at being straight graded. Most, like this one, has problems and/or chops. And when I say most, I've only seen maybe 3-4 other coins.

Sergey74

It's like after the war... Hundred Chinese vs silver coin. And don't think that Chinese has won, you didn't see them, they are all dead)... If you are happy that's good.

ChopmarkedTrades

Cool find!

OriginalDan

Good news is that's almost certainly not PVC. I believe it's what we call verdigris. On the bad news front, the stuff is hard as rock and almost impossible to remove. Back to the good news, I've been told and also observed myself that it's not active and you shouldn't stress over it. This stuff used to drive me nuts, but on a coin like this I think you just have to embrace it as part of its history. If you try to get rid of it, you will likely end up making things worse.

AWESOME coin. So glad you got it!

TwoKopeiki

@OriginalDan said:
Good news is that's almost certainly not PVC. I believe it's what we call verdigris. On the bad news front, the stuff is hard as rock and almost impossible to remove. Back to the good news, I've been told and also observed myself that it's not active and you should stress over it. This stuff used to drive me nuts, but on a coin like this I think you just have to embrace it as part of its history. If you try to get rid of it, you will likely end up making things worse.

AWESOME coin. So glad you got it!

Thanks. I think you're right about it being verdigris. I was on the fence as it's usually not that brilliantly green from what i've seen. It can definitely be stubborn.

OriginalDan

@TwoKopeiki said:

@OriginalDan said:
Good news is that's almost certainly not PVC. I believe it's what we call verdigris. On the bad news front, the stuff is hard as rock and almost impossible to remove. Back to the good news, I've been told and also observed myself that it's not active and you should stress over it. This stuff used to drive me nuts, but on a coin like this I think you just have to embrace it as part of its history. If you try to get rid of it, you will likely end up making things worse.

AWESOME coin. So glad you got it!

Thanks. I think you're right about it being verdigris. I was on the fence as it's usually not that brilliantly green from what i've seen. It can definitely be stubborn.

Corrected above statement. You SHOULD NOT stress over it. Bad typo.

The way I see the chopmarks and the verdigris, when a collector of your caliber with coins of the caliber in your collection puts a coin like this one up next to the others, it speaks to the true rarity of the issue. Sure we'd all love to see a nice MS63 with awesome luster and color, but that ain't gonna happen with the 83-FM.

Crazy8s

Great score and glad it went into your collection, (though it might look better in my chop marked Carlos III date run collection...LOL).