1725 Cut 2 Reales

[joe_dirt]

I found this a couple days ago on a local farm field. It's obviously cut with some apparent plow damage as well. It has the "25" half of the date, I'm fairly certain it's 1725 but of course I could be wrong.

 

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[joe_dirt]

That just threw the neat factor up imo.I wonder when it was cut to make change, if a receiving party caught on?I would imagine they might hang someone for that back then,or just straight up shoot ya.

Who knows? Maybe the receiving party was actually the one who bent it right there to prove it was fake.

 

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[pepperj]

The detail is nice and crisp on it still, very cool coin.

 

[SC Keith]

I bet that was a rush to see the Spanish silver come out of the hole!!

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Thanks for all the comments so far.

Bill, yeah I got out for a bit on Wednesday, between the snow. It was hitting in the high 70s, between 76-78. There is certainly something a bit funky looking going on at the bend/break. I noticed it as soon as I rinsed the dirt off. It appears to be flaking, almost like there's an outer layer or something. Kind of reminds me of pewter. Counterfeit didn't even cross my mind at first but now that you've mentioned it it would make sense.

Thanks for the close-ups. That definitely does not look like silver to me - it appears to be some kind of pot metal which would usually read rather high as well (in the silver range). Below are a couple of pics of half of a counterfeit 8 reale coin I found a couple years ago. Its not exactly like yours, but I do see some similarities.

 

[joe_dirt]

Thanks for the close-ups. That definitely does not look like silver to me - it appears to be some kind of pot metal which would usually read rather high as well (in the silver range). Below are a couple of pics of half of a counterfeit 8 reale coin I found a couple years ago. Its not exactly like yours, but I do see some similarities.

View attachment 1125824

View attachment 1125825

I agree with you, it does look different than silver. I don't have a photo right now of the cut edge, but on mine whatever the metal is is uniform along the cut. There's no flaking, layers, corrosion, etc along the cut. Also, you can't see it in my photo because you have to catch it just right with the lighting, but there's a very small area towards the outer edge that got scratched, possibly while I was retrieving it, but inside the scratch looks like what you would expect to see with silver. But I'm not sure, maybe pot metal would look like that as well?

 

[Roadrunner007]

Awesome Recovery...Good Pics!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Sweet 1725 pistareen!

 

[Carolina Tom]

Very nice find. Congrats on the Spanish silver! GL&HH.

 

[tormes]

Nice pistareen (http://numismatics.org/wikiuploads/CNL/Pistareens.pdf) in that link we can download an interesting article about them.

I am not sure if it is counterfeit or not, anyway I think is from 1725, king Philip V, mint Seville -S- (pistareen coins were minted in Spain mainland with lesser silver content than those minted in american mints) and probably is 2 reales.

Congratulations

t.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Nice Silver, wouldn't have that black tarnish if it wasn't Silver, or a lot of Silver in the cut coin.

SS

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Nice Silver, wouldn't have that black tarnish if it wasn't Silver, or a lot of Silver in the cut coin.

SS

I'm having a hard time believing this is not a counterfeit. The irregularity and brittleness of the break would not be characteristic of a silver coin. The tarnish you see would also be possible if the coin was silver plated, like the huge counterfeit cut 8 reale I posted above. And pot metal would also read like silver so its high conductivity does not confirm silver. Like to hear more chime in on this.

 

[Silver Searcher]

I'm having a hard time believing this is not a counterfeit. The irregularity and brittleness of the break would not be characteristic of a silver coin. The tarnish you see would also be possible if the coin was silver plated, like the huge counterfeit cut 8 reale I posted above. And pot metal would also read like silver so its high conductivity does not confirm silver. Like to hear more chime in on this.

It's not uncommon for Silver Coins to be brittle, I have had hammered Silver coins break on me, Saxon coins are notorious for it. For it to go black like that means there is quite a bit of Silver there. I have never seen pot metal go that colour either. On your coin you can clearly see the flaking and the green cooper core at the break, I don't see any of this on the one posted, and the break at the coin on this one has also gone black. I guess the weight would help solve in the mystery.

SS

 

[relicmeister]

Reale Nice! excellent find

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[VBCurt]

Nice find. Great post from everyone. Like to hear more on counterfeit or not.