willr Posted July 7, 2017 Posted July 7, 2017 I have a 2 escudos gold doubloon that I purchased from a very reputable seller on eBay some years ago. For whatever reason I never thought to weigh it at the time as I trusted that it was legit. Having just purchased some accurate scales, and remembering this coin I bought back in 2011, I weighed it and it is coming up light, 6.27g instead of what should be 6.77g. Does this mean it's definitely a fake or did they vary a lot by weight, half a gram seems an awful lot though for a small coin. Quote
Leo Posted July 8, 2017 Posted July 8, 2017 7% is clearly underweight - although all coins lose a bit when they circulate a lot, and especially gold which is very soft. Is it very worn? However this doesn't necessarily mean that it's a fake. In the past it was common practice (and illegal) to file or scrape gold coins to obtain free gold. Also, there were cases of some american mints and assayers (Potosi more often) when the purity was altered. Gold being so dense, that could explain the underweight. I suggest that you publish some good photos in a specialised forum. Quote
willr Posted July 9, 2017 Author Posted July 9, 2017 (edited) Ok, thanks for the reply. It's not worn, here's some photos of it anyway. I'm not sure what grade it is, would it be VF? It's 22mm in diameter which is the correct diameter. Edited July 9, 2017 by willr Quote
Leo Posted July 9, 2017 Posted July 9, 2017 (edited) Ah, I didn't read the date on the title and thought it would be a colonial cob, which weights were all over the place... But being a relatively recent Madrid piece, it should definitively be standard, so all alarms ring with the underweight. Take a look at acsearch - all examples are around 6.60 - 6.68g I am no expert at this, but the king's portrait and tie look wrong, on the soapy side. More importantly your coin's rim is not right. It should show raised indentations more clearly. I can't see the actual edge, there should also be a chain of diagonal grooves all around the edge that overlap at some point, most fakes fail in this area. So it looks fake to me, but I'm only a collector with limited knowledge of gold coins of that period. Is the dealer still active? Maybe he will give you a refund without much fuss. I paste a couple of examples for your comparison. VF: EF: Edited July 9, 2017 by Leo 1 Quote
willr Posted July 9, 2017 Author Posted July 9, 2017 Ok cheers. I did think something wasn't quite right with the rim, it looks less substantial than on other examples and the teeth aren't as well defined, I thought this may have contributed towards the lack of weight. I will definitely try my luck and get in contact with the seller who's still active, thanks for your help. Quote
Leo Posted July 9, 2017 Posted July 9, 2017 You're very welcome, I hope he/she is reasonable. Good luck Quote
craigy Posted July 9, 2017 Posted July 9, 2017 3 hours ago, willr said: Ok cheers. I did think something wasn't quite right with the rim, it looks less substantial than on other examples and the teeth aren't as well defined, I thought this may have contributed towards the lack of weight. I will definitely try my luck and get in contact with the seller who's still active, thanks for your help. good luck with that, i just had this experience with a coin Quote
craigy Posted July 9, 2017 Posted July 9, 2017 17 hours ago, willr said: Ok, thanks for the reply. It's not worn, here's some photos of it anyway. I'm not sure what grade it is, would it be VF? It's 22mm in diameter which is the correct diameter. love the smile on his face haha, just noticed the goat hanging at the bottom of the reverse Quote
Leo Posted July 9, 2017 Posted July 9, 2017 4 hours ago, craigy said: just noticed the goat hanging at the bottom of the reverse and off his tie! It surely is some bling Quote
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