Posted 3 years ago
mhentschel
(1 item)
1.5 inches in diameter. Came from my Great Grandfather from Germany. Can anyone help to identify this? Has a silver tint to it. Not sure if real silver. Once I try to polish it I will update.
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Hi. mhentschel. :-)
It looks like it might be a tourist piece, a pseudo 8 Reales cob coin:
https://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins.pl?coin=7055
Thanks. Ill look into that. He left germany late 1800s
mhentschel, You're welcome. I'm sorry if the information is a bit disappointing.
mhentschel, I felt a bit like a big blue meanie for giving you that link, and decided to look into it further.
The Spanish-American 8 Reales coin was a popular one for counterfeiters, and there's an entire book devoted to the subject:
https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9780990802907/
https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=9780990802907
I do think your coin is not a genuine antique cob coin. Probably the easiest thing you can do is perform the magnet test. That is, if the coin is attracted to a magnet, it's not gold or silver.
I don't know how your great grandfather came into possession of the coin, but it could have been a souvenir gift from an unsuspecting friend.
You are all good my friend. I greatly appreciate the help. God bless
mhentschel, Thank you.
I don't enjoy passing on information that somebody's collectible might not be genuine when it's something inherited.
Initially, I had used Google Images to look for cob coins with crosses, and when I found that very similar-looking one at coinquest dot com, I pounced on it, only to learn that their opinion was that it was definitely counterfeit. :-(
Also, I don't necessarily recommend buying a copy of that book about counterfeit 8 Reales coins. The isbns dot net link was mostly to get the full book description.
It's actually unclear whether that book even addresses cob coins. From the description, it sounds like it focuses on the more conventional-looking round portrait coins.
The worldcat dot org link was to facilitate an inter-library loan with your local library if you want to get a look at it.
As it turns out, somebody has put together a database of fake cob coins:
https://www.sedwickcoins.com/fake_cobs.htm
At a glance, I didn't see one like yours in there, but you might want to contact the creator/administrator (office at sedwickcoins dot com) with pictures of yours for an opinion (and possible inclusion).
Good luck. :-)