mexicana 8 R (real or fake?) and silver spoon

nalc472

nalc472

New member
Found a Mexicana 1877-1904 era Spanish 8 Reale and silver sppon. Both missing parts. Not sure if the Reale is real. It has some black on it. any ideas?spanish.jpgspanish2.jpgspoon2.jpgspoon.jpg
 
The Cap & Rays were minted 1823 to 1897. The design looks correct, except the Libertad is worn so I can't tell if the band was there in the cap. The other thing, the mint mark doesn't seem to coincide here. Seems the Santo Domingo mint closed in 1578. No wonder there weren't any pics with the D o mark. Silver does turn black when oxidized. Umm.. the list I saw online tho seems incomplete for anything after 1825. Now I know why you question. Something doesn't jive. Esp since I thought Spanish silver was still minted after 1825 even tho it wasn't widely used in the US once there was an established coinage and the US treasury did what it could to drive out foreign currency usage. Sure there was still cut silver reused in the 1800s, and from the dates I provided in the first sentence, why isn't it listed in the site below?

http://www.newworldtreasures.com/cointypes.htm

Edit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_real
 
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Looks real to me. Impurities in the silver will leave those discolored pockmarks, and it sure does look like someone took a chisel or some other tool to it at one time. I had read somewhere people would sometimes use old silvers like that when making jewelry as fill for soldering. If it was heated with a torch or coal fire, it would easily explain the blackening.
 
I hope that is real. Not too often an 8 reale shows up. I have found many silvers that are black with tarnish.
 
It might be real. The wiki link I added in the edit did have Durango mint listed. I just haven't seen anywhere that Durango took the same mint mark from Santo Domingo. There were a few for sale on ebay as such. Looks like they were all 10 Ds. 20 Gs or 0.90277 silver, so there were some impurities. More reason for a black tarnish/oxidation.
 
It look like the tried to split it like a Spanish piece of 8. Like to know what the possible age of this coin. Any ideas?
 
MangoAve said:
The Cap & Rays were minted 1823 to 1897.
Click to expand...

I already told you what dates these were minted. I can see the 1 and the 8 in yours, but I can't see the last two digits. You'd have to put under a magnifier to see if you can see the last two digits. But whatever they are, is between a '23 and '97.
 
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