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How to spot a FAKE Spanish Colonial 8 Reales...
OchoReales
Posts: 1,500 ✭
http://cgi.ebay.com/SPAIN-COLONIAL-BOLIVIA-POTOSI-8-REALES-1777-PR-COIN-/170615400520?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b9786848
What makes this coin bad, you ask? Good question! First, experience (and lots)! Second, the color, look AND surfaces (including the denticles)are suspicious. Third, moving from #2, there are small raised bumps (probably from casting ((when a real coin is used to make the fakes from)) ) on both the Obverse and Reverse.
Is that enough to say with surety, FAKE?!? When buying from pictures, it is DEFINATELY enough to make a potential buyer with less experience to RUN!
What makes this coin bad, you ask? Good question! First, experience (and lots)! Second, the color, look AND surfaces (including the denticles)are suspicious. Third, moving from #2, there are small raised bumps (probably from casting ((when a real coin is used to make the fakes from)) ) on both the Obverse and Reverse.
Is that enough to say with surety, FAKE?!? When buying from pictures, it is DEFINATELY enough to make a potential buyer with less experience to RUN!
Lurker since '02. Got the seven year itch!
Gary
Gary
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Comments
Here's a Link.
That one looks silvered, but besides that I wouldn't have known there was a problem with it.
But not big ones. It might have slipped by me, I must admit, if I weren't paying close attention. Who's to say if it would have got me, had you not pointed it out. Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how vigilant I was at that moment.
Not that I was shopping for 8R pieces or anything.
Has anyone contacted the seller, or eBay? I see it now has a bid and is at $89.
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
TalerUniverse.com is a curated numismatic project dedicated to the silver talers, crowns, and medals of the Habsburg Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, spanning the 16th–18th centuries. The collection emphasizes historically significant issues, rare mint varieties, and high-grade NGC/PCGS examples, presented with detailed historical context, scholarly references, and high-resolution photography. TalerUniverse aims to serve both as a private collection showcase and a growing reference resource for collectors, researchers, and students of early-modern European coinage.
To echo your comments: weight (including specific gravity), edge, dentils, surface, design elements.
If any of those are "off" - it's a suspect.
If more than 1 - most likely a fake.
Gary