8 Reale Coin Unknown to me

[josephrg]

Hi I aquired this coin in a lot of Roman coins. I collect Roman coins and believe the coins came from Spain.I am not sure how this coin was mixed in but I did some research and believe it is a Mexico city coin from the 1500,s Phillip II. the coin weighs 26.4 grams and is 36mm. If anyone has any more info on it that would be great.It isn't corroded so I don't believe it came from the water. thanks Joe[img][/img] The mint mark is oMO

[stevemc]

Yes, Mexico with the balls at end of cross bars. It looks to be round, so maybe it is a royal, or presentation. Usually they are not as round for the general public. Yes, it does look like a land find.

[Diver_Down]

It is a land find and a royal/presentation piece as Steve mentioned. Of course it is a Mexico City, but double check the assayer. Perhaps it is dirt or my eyes, but I don't see the round "O". Instead, I see a "D". If it is a "D", then there should be another assayer on the other side of the shield. It will be an "F" (Francisco de Morales). 1598/1599. Very rare.

[josephrg]

Unfortunatly I cleaned the coin a little more ( I find a eraser works well on silver coins) and it is a O instead of a D.Any idea on the value since this is a common presentation piece and how about a date? thanks and sorry for the unclear pictures.

[Diver_Down]

The closest date would be from 1575 - 1589. The "O" Assayer is shared by Bernardo de Onate (1571 - 1578) and (possibly his son) Luis de Onate (1578 - 1589). Nice cob.

[stevemc]

I would think this would be worth more than a regular cob from that era. Presentations or royals, were sent to the king, to show how nice the new years coins turned out. There were not very many royals as regular cobs, much less. Hard to say about the price, but it is definitly worth checking and seeing what other presentation coins have sold for. Most sell for 10 or more times what the other cobs sell for. Check on Sedwicks website, and see. I dont have the actual websites address though.

[Trez]

Hello,
Not to ruffle any feathers...but this is NOT a presentation piece and or Royal.
It is a nice find but it is more common than one would think.
Being minted late in the late 1590s - the cobs/reales were minted on nicely round planchets, the standards were set very very high and quality control was high...but as decades passed, assayers, mints, kings and as Spain became more and more money hungry, the quality of cob/reales and their minting standard dropped, thats why so many funny shapes and or ugly looking cobs you will see in later dates.
Again, nice early Mexico minted cob but no where near royal/presentation quality. Very standard round planchet for those early year strikes.
Value $100.00 - $150.00 for yours. Date late 1590s is my quess.
Mexico mint, Phillip II, OM-mexico, O-Bernardo de Onate assayer. Assayer provided by Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins by Sewall Menzel.

Pencil eraser? ok, that will erase it's value some.

Trez

[cuzcosquirrel]

I think Trez is correct. It is still a pretty nice cob.

[realeswatcher]

Unfortunatly I cleaned the coin a little more ( I find a eraser works well on silver coins) and it is a O instead of a D.Any idea on the value since this is a common presentation piece and how about a date? thanks and sorry for the unclear pictures.

Pencil eraser? ok, that will erase it's value some.

Firstly, Trez's attribution of the coin is correct. Beyond that,



For the benefit of anyone else who may be reading this... One should NEVER EVER EVER eraser a coin..... let alone a rather rare $150 400-year old coin!!! A normal pencil eraser is abrasive, putting down minute scratches on the coin's surface... this leaves an obvious pattern that someone who is familiar with coins would recognize (and lament) right away. It's basically a low-tech form of what coin people call "whizzing".

Not sure if the pics currently posted are before or after you did that (can be hard to see surface issues from a scan)... just don't do it again in the future. W can only hope that the eraser you used was some kind of minimally abrasive type. If the patina was anything close in appearance to normal "old silver" grey w/a touch of brown, though, why did you even try to clean it? There's a saying about coin cleaning... if you have to ask, DON'T DO IT!

[josephrg]

The picture is after i cleaned the coin. Not sure if this will work but here is a link of the coin before cleaning along with the other coins I recieved
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

[stevemc]

Trez, thanks for the update. I just always saw cobs as very un-round. That is why I thought this must be a presentation. I know you are really into the ID. Thanks!

[umrgolf]

The picture is after i cleaned the coin. Not sure if this will work but here is a link of the coin before cleaning along with the other coins I recieved
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

wow, im gonna watch his future auctions

[Silver Searcher]

Unfortunatly I cleaned the coin a little more ( I find a eraser works well on silver coins) and it is a O instead of a D.Any idea on the value since this is a common presentation piece and how about a date? thanks and sorry for the unclear pictures.

Pencil eraser? ok, that will erase it's value some.

Firstly, Trez's attribution of the coin is correct. Beyond that,



For the benefit of anyone else who may be reading this... One should NEVER EVER EVER eraser a coin..... let alone a rather rare $150 400-year old coin!!! A normal pencil eraser is abrasive, putting down minute scratches on the coin's surface... this leaves an obvious pattern that someone who is familiar with coins would recognize (and lament) right away. It's basically a low-tech form of what coin people call "whizzing".

Not sure if the pics currently posted are before or after you did that (can be hard to see surface issues from a scan)... just don't do it again in the future. W can only hope that the eraser you used was some kind of minimally abrasive type. If the patina was anything close in appearance to normal "old silver" grey w/a touch of brown, though, why did you even try to clean it? There's a saying about coin cleaning... if you have to ask, DON'T DO IT!

Pencil erazer, are they not made from rubber how can rubber scratch a coin

SS

[NHBandit]

Unfortunatly I cleaned the coin a little more ( I find a eraser works well on silver coins) and it is a O instead of a D.Any idea on the value since this is a common presentation piece and how about a date? thanks and sorry for the unclear pictures.

Pencil eraser? ok, that will erase it's value some.

Firstly, Trez's attribution of the coin is correct. Beyond that,



For the benefit of anyone else who may be reading this... One should NEVER EVER EVER eraser a coin..... let alone a rather rare $150 400-year old coin!!! A normal pencil eraser is abrasive, putting down minute scratches on the coin's surface... this leaves an obvious pattern that someone who is familiar with coins would recognize (and lament) right away. It's basically a low-tech form of what coin people call "whizzing".

Not sure if the pics currently posted are before or after you did that (can be hard to see surface issues from a scan)... just don't do it again in the future. W can only hope that the eraser you used was some kind of minimally abrasive type. If the patina was anything close in appearance to normal "old silver" grey w/a touch of brown, though, why did you even try to clean it? There's a saying about coin cleaning... if you have to ask, DON'T DO IT!

Pencil erazer, are they not made from rubber how can rubber scratch a coin

SS

The same way wiping dirt off your car will scratch the paint. It makes no difference how soft the cloth is that you use. It's the dirt that was on it that causes the scratches.

[Silver Searcher]

Unfortunatly I cleaned the coin a little more ( I find a eraser works well on silver coins) and it is a O instead of a D.Any idea on the value since this is a common presentation piece and how about a date? thanks and sorry for the unclear pictures.

Pencil eraser? ok, that will erase it's value some.

Firstly, Trez's attribution of the coin is correct. Beyond that,



For the benefit of anyone else who may be reading this... One should NEVER EVER EVER eraser a coin..... let alone a rather rare $150 400-year old coin!!! A normal pencil eraser is abrasive, putting down minute scratches on the coin's surface... this leaves an obvious pattern that someone who is familiar with coins would recognize (and lament) right away. It's basically a low-tech form of what coin people call "whizzing".

Not sure if the pics currently posted are before or after you did that (can be hard to see surface issues from a scan)... just don't do it again in the future. W can only hope that the eraser you used was some kind of minimally abrasive type. If the patina was anything close in appearance to normal "old silver" grey w/a touch of brown, though, why did you even try to clean it? There's a saying about coin cleaning... if you have to ask, DON'T DO IT!

Pencil erazer, are they not made from rubber how can rubber scratch a coin

SS

The same way wiping dirt off your car will scratch the paint. It makes no difference how soft the cloth is that you use. It's the dirt that was on it that causes the scratches.

You wouldn't clean a Silver coin, unless the soil(dirt )had been washed of first and besides a dug coin would have plenty of scratches, from being in the ground, saying a rubber eraser would scratch a coin, does not make any sence at all a buyer, would assume the scratches were from being dug.

I wouldn't clean a silver coin this way anyway, there are plenty of outher things to use, with out harming silver

SS