Sword

Some of those chop marks are definitely Chinese characters. These circulated widely in China alongside other foreign silver dollars. 8 Reales is still on my list of things to get. Great history! I wasn't aware of that. I think the original ones are still very affordable if one is not gunning for a top grade example.

I don't think there is any problem with washing really dirty low grade coins gently if necessary.

I don't think the colour is "artificial". I think that perhaps someone has tried to clean it in the past (look in particular to the area in front of the horse). The tarnish is more easily removed from the worn areas of the coin and hence the appearance after "cleaning".

R7 rarity for someone good?

Low eye appeal but high grade hammered in slabs is not such a bad thing. Let investors buy these and leaving the well struck VF for collectors 😀.

This coin highlights that the criteria for grading milled coins are not sufficient (or appropriate) for "grading" hammered coins. One can assume that milled coins generally have decent round full weight flans and much less weakness or flat areas. Then one can concentrate on assessing the wear as it is the dominant factor in grading milled. Lustre + hairlines, etc are other complementary factors. But for hammered, the wear is not the single dominant factor and is often not even the most important factor. The grading done by TPG on hammered coins often seem to ignore flat areas (can be much more important than wear) and shape of flan. Hence, I find grading numbers rather meaningless for hammered.

Good! I seen your eBay listing and the photos you have there show off the lustre much better.

I love the designs of thalers. The quality of striking is often so much better than the English crowns of the same age. I like your 1604 Saxony thaler!

Didn't you say it's a keeper just 2 hours ago?

I would say it is around EF. (The coin looks dull but that could be due to photograph). If there is some lustre on the surfaces, perhaps worth about £35 or £40.

No, repair is never done at the mint. It's much less hassle just to strike another piece than to repair.

Both are around VF I think.

Subject to funds, I would suggest you upgrade to UNC and take your time. Looking at a coin a top grade gives so much more pleasure. And there is no reason to have them all in the same grade.

Scrap value is just over £8 and so you can't complain.

Make the most of the situation. Try selling it to Martin Scorsese and see if you can make a profit.

edited

Round and full. Very collectable coin 🙂

One can born with scars unfortunately. I remember some salesman once said on TV that inclusions in a diamond are a good thing as they give the stone unique character. Who was he kidding? Back to the 1902 matte proof. In my view, the minting process was over when the coins have been struck. The wiping wasn't part of the minting process and was mishandling by workers after minting. The fact that many (but not all) 1902 matt proof have wipe marks do help to make them more tolerable to collectors but you won't find many people thinking the marks are a positive feature. If you buy a modern commemorative coin from the Royal Mint today and it comes with a fingerprint, you would immediately return it due to mishandling in the mint.

A facial birthmark or scar can be argued to add "character". I would still rather not have them...

Minor double entered letters wouldn't be considered as having any significance. If would become exciting if an incorrect letter was first applied. E.g. the 1820 S over T in "SOIT" is a rarity.

It's somewhat debatable as to how much "mint wipe" should be penalised, if at all. I don't like it, but would grade it MS61 myself if I am sympathetic with the wiping done at the mint. If you were to ignore that (not that I would), then as there are no contact marks, the grade could be anything. It's probably something unexpected like PR64?

https://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=Pastresults&searchterm=1887+Sixpence+Jeb+On+Truncation&searchtype=1&red=1 You can see some examples here.

The reverse design is very similar to that of the half sovereign and unscrupulous people started gold plating the sixpences to pass them off as gold coins. Hence the sixpences were "withdrawn" and replaced with new ones with "SIX PENCE" on the reverse. Some examples has the "R" of VICTORIA over another letter. "R over V" is one of the varieties due to the letter "V" being wrongly used initially and then corrected with the correct letter "R" afterwards. The other varieties being "R over B" and "R over I". They are interesting but none of the varieties are rare. I have brought an "R over B" a little while back.

For this coin type, it might not make much difference in price.