spanish 1 bit piece?????????

alfonse · February 14, 2007 9:17AM

I found a cut coin while metal detecting. It appears to be a 1 bit piece cut from a reale, possibly a 4 reale because its weight is 1.60 grams which is approx. 1/8 the weight of a 4 reale coin. Both sides are are readable and I made rubbings of them. Does anyone know anything about this piece and how common they may be plus any value? I believe it's made of silver. Will try to send pic. The front side shows 'SPA" over a crown, the reverse shows "QU".

DorkGirl · February 14, 2007 9:43AM

Sorry, I can't help, just wanted to let you know someone was here......

GDJMSP · February 14, 2007 12:44PM

If you can post a pic, might be able to pin it down.

lordmarcovan · February 14, 2007 3:53PM

Cut bits are fascinating but I seldom see them on the coin market. You'd think there'd be more out there. After all, cut "halfpennies" (cut from hammered silver pennies) are commonly found in Britain. I suppose the need to cut Spanish Colonial silver didn't happen as much in colonial America, but it did happen, and people do find such pieces.

So far I have yet to dig one while detecting, though I know of people who have. (I personally have dug a few half-real pieces, a 1-real, and a 2-reales, but these were intact whole coins, although all but one of them were holed).

Very cool find, by the way. Make sure you pay very close attention to that site!

Come and visit us over on the MD Forum, too!

TwoKopeiki · February 14, 2007 10:14PM

Sounds like a cut from a pillar 4 Reales. Check out this EBay Link - do the letters match on yours?

alfonse · February 15, 2007 12:44AM

I'm having trouble uploading pics. Have kodak easyshare digital camera & program. File too big when trying to upload from computer. Any help is appreciated. Al

ajaan · February 15, 2007 12:46AM

If you want to email the image to me I can post it. Please turn on your PM feature in your profile.

DesertRat · February 15, 2007 12:47AM

<< <i>I'm having trouble uploading pics. Have kodak easyshare digital camera & program. File too big when trying to upload from computer. Any help is appreciated. Al >>

Rather than upload them using CU ( I assume that is what you are trying?) Use a photo storage site like photobucket or Villagephotos then link them here.

alfonse · February 16, 2007 4:52AM

Am having no luck uploading pics to this site. Anyone's help welcome. Would really like to know exactly what I have and its value. Thanks Al

ajaan · February 16, 2007 10:12AM

Here are the images:

lordmarcovan · February 16, 2007 10:36AM

Yep. Definitely a cut bit from a Spanish colonial. Pillar type, too, I reckon.

But is it from a 4-reales or an 8-reales? I suppose they might've cut the 4-reales into eighths, to make half-real bits, but I have only heard of eighths of the 8-reales coins (or 1-real bits).

Without any idea of the scale, I can't tell how big this piece is. Can you photograph it next to a cent or dime, for scale?

Edit: never mind. You said it weighs 1/8 of the weight of a 4-reales piece, so that's gotta be what it is. I would imagine half-real bits from a 4-reales piece are a tad scarcer than 1-real bits cut from an 8-reales coin. I'm pretty sure the 4-reales coins in general are scarcer than the pieces of eight.

Value? I have no idea, but it is a super cool find, and if I had been the one to dig it, the value would be irrelevant since I'd never sell it anyway.

GDJMSP · February 18, 2007 3:37AM

The pics help. I'm pretty sure what you have is not a piece cut from a 4 reales, but a piece cut from an 8 reales, and it would be approx 1/16 based on the weight of the piece. The pics I post will illustrate why. The lines are crude and not exact, but they are close enough.

Here is what a 4 reales would look like if it were cut into 8 pieces, as indicated by the red. The black indicates an approx size of your piece.

4 reales

Now since you say your piece is 1/8 the weight of a 4 reales ( 1.69 grams ), you can see it could not have come from this coin.

But if your piece was cut from an 8 reales, it could. 1/16 of an 8 reales is also 1.69 grams. Again the red indicates what it woulld be if the coin were cut into 8 pieces. The black indicates the approx size of your piece. As you can see, the fit is much better.

8 reales

Pieces like this are not really common, but they are not unheard of either. In order to establish value it would need to be authenticated of course, but I see nothing that makes suspect right off. Just a guess on my part, but I think value would be under $100.

spanish 1 bit piece?????????

Comments