Before and After

tommyb · Mar 22, 2009

I used to be TommyB before I forgot my password. Two years ago i found this 8 reale and never realized it was silver. Today I decided to try vinegar and salt on what I thought was a copper coin. After several shakes a silver luster began to show up. Kstichfarms was both happy and mad. Before he even had a detector, i found this on his land. Hope you enjoy the before and after pictures

PS: sorry if you have already seen this post. I added a reply onto my old post, but no one saw it because my new pictures were on the start of the second page.

tommyb · Mar 22, 2009

Also, do you think the A in Gratia is a mint error because of the spacing? The date also seems to be left of the center

Showmethesilver · Mar 22, 2009

Hi Crhunter , can i ask what you cleaned it with ?

tommyb · Mar 23, 2009

vinegar and salt, the scratches were already there

TerryEastTexas · Mar 23, 2009

That's a beauty.

tommyb · Mar 23, 2009

Although you can't tell from the second set of pictures, the coin is larger than a morgan dollar

HEAVYMETALNUT · Mar 23, 2009

wow

i never seen a silver coin turn that color.came out great! awesome job
dave

venator12 · Mar 24, 2009

what a difference........nice coin!!!

Lowjiber · Mar 24, 2009

Nice cleaning job! Vinegar and water...who'da thunk it!

RickO · Mar 24, 2009

Nice coin... RickO

DougF · Mar 24, 2009

tommyb said:
Also, do you think the A in Gratia is a mint error because of the spacing? The date also seems to be left of the center

I know next to nothing about these Spanish coins, but could it be a counterfeit? Maybe the silver content is off, which explains the different corrosion. Seems strange that the mint in Mexico City would goof up on the letter spacing like that, but who knows. Still a great find even if counterfeit.

tommyb · Mar 24, 2009

yeah, i agree...it seems like the A was stretched towards the date so that the gap between the two would not seem as large. By looking at other 8 reales, you can easily see a difference. In my opinion it is either an error or a counterfeit. There also appears to be doubling striking on the 8 and the E in DEI. The more I look at other coins, the more differences I notice.

tater · Mar 24, 2009

Man it did come out great! I love that coin!!!

tommyb · Mar 24, 2009

I posted it on another forum, and the members seem to think it is a counterfeit. They said that the top right hand of the reverse looks porous, and casting was probably the method used for counterfeiting. I don't see it, but if anybody could explain it to me, that would be great.

coinnut · Mar 24, 2009

Counterfeit??

I would drop it on edge about 2" high, on a hard table to see if it would ring like silver, or thud like white metal. I don't think it is a casting, since a casting would have been done from a genuine 8 Reales. That would not explain the odd spacing of the letters and date. It seems like that was a die that was made for striking. The casting would have been a perfect copy of a genuine 8 Reales. If it rings like good silver, then it is a die variety and not counterfeit, since no one would use silver to counterfeit with (what's the point of that :lol:

). Let us know what you come up with.

kstichfarms · Mar 24, 2009

I was with him when he cleaned it, and when it is droped it sounds like silver :?:

coinnut · Mar 24, 2009

Real??

Then I vote real!!! :lol:

Unfortunately, my vote doesn't count. Maybe someone with a good Spanish reference book can see if it's a known variety. You know back then, they really didn't care about perfect looking dies. Spacing, reversed letters, misspelled words, didn't matter that much. Too much effort into making a die to throw it out. A great find, made even better the second time around

tommyb · Mar 24, 2009

The only problem I have believing it is real is the edges really. The edges don't seem to seamlessly come together. The rim looks like it has three pieces. The heads side, the middle and the tails side. However, I have no other spanish 8 reales to compare to so i can't really speculate to what a normal rim looks like. Thanks for all of the replies guys.

kstichfarms · Mar 24, 2009

On the edge of the coin there is like a funny looking design... it looks like a square that continues on the entire rim... does any one else have a reale that they can look at the edge to see if its the same?

coinnut · Mar 31, 2009

Edges

I don't have an 8 Reales to check so I can't help you with that, but if it has a design on the edge, it's probably there so that people can't "shave" off some of the coin. That was a common practice back then. Shave a bit off of each coin you get and then have enough silver to trade for a real one. It stops that kind of cheating, or at least they tried to :lol:

Before and After

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