fake coin?

[James D Cleaveland]

Have a coin which obverse is a cap and ray Mexican 8 Reales dated 1885, the reverse is of a 420 grain Trade Dollar of the San Francisco mint. It's larger than the trade dollar, but weighs (by my cheap scale) 26.7 grams. Was told it was minted by the Republic of Texas, but can't find info. Does NCS handle this type of coin and do you have any ideas?

 

thx, Doug

[the_Thing ®]

Doug, I'm not sure what you have, but I can tell you the Republic of Texas didn't mint any coins.

[the_Thing ®]

Also, the Republic of TX ended in the 1850's.

[the_Thing ®]

One other thought. Along the edge, can you see a seam or rim? If you could take some pics, that would be great. Truthteller can probably help you out.

[James D Cleaveland]

I've seen fakes from China and the far east, but this coin still has luster, even though it appears to have been cleaned at some time. The rim is thicker than normal on the "trade dollar" side. Have heard of mint pattern strikes using Mexican coins before, but the weight doesn't seem to match an 1885 8 Reales.

 

stumped!

[James D Cleaveland]

How do you post a picture here?

[the_Thing ®]

When you hit "reply", at the bottem below all the smilies, you will see the option "I want to preview my post and/or attach a file "

Check that box, and on the next screen, you will have the option to "browse" for the pic you want to upload off of your desktop. It will then be uploaded to NGC, and people will be able to click on "attachment" to view it.

[James D Cleaveland]

Here's a couple of quick pics.

[the_Thing ®]

[the_Thing ®]

Doug, I'm just guessing its some sort of a novelty, but you never know. I'm sure someone on the board will be able to help you. Might take a day or two, so keep checking back.

[gmarguli]

It's likely either a novelty coin or two coins put together into one. Without higher quality pictures, it is hard to tell which.

[James D Cleaveland]

Here are some better pics.

[James D Cleaveland]

pic 1

[the_Thing ®]

Doug, the pics aren't working.

[James D Cleaveland]

try again

[the_Thing ®]

[James D Cleaveland]

pic 2 - Mexican side

[the_Thing ®]

[the_Thing ®]

Doug, I can't tell you exactly what it is, but that coin does appear to be a novelty/fake. I appears to me 2 different coins were joined together, or some type of cast was made. Is the outside edge smooth and solid all the way around? Does the outside edge have any marks? I could be wrong about it though. There will be more people more knowledgeable about this than myself who can help you.

[James D Cleaveland]

It has a full reeded edge, doesn't look to be joined from two different coins in any way. It very well could be a novelty coin of some type because of weight, 26.7 grams but would be a strange combo for novelty. It was purchased from a person in Campbell, California. The Trade dollar side you can see a slight rim where the die was a little smaller than the base blank, or Mexican 8 reales coin. Helps explain the wider rim on the Trade side than normal.

[satootoko]

Someone needs to put the Trade Dollar side under a microscope and look for the joint between the smaller TD insert and the wider hollowed out Mexican 8 Reales. A skilful machinist can make that line very hard to see around the rim.