AN 1808 CONTEMPORARY COUNTERFEIT 2 REALES

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V18 2015 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 18, Number 35, August 30, 2015, Article 16

Dave Wnuck published issue #22 of his Making the Grade email newsletter on August 26, 2015. Here's a short excerpt. The complete version is available online at Dave's web site. -Editor

First off, I would like to thank all the folks who stopped by my table at the ANA to say that they enjoyed reading these emails. After confirming that they weren't confusing my newsletter with someone else's, I told each that I was grateful for their kind words. It's nice to know that there are at least a few people in Internet Land that appreciate this mix of semi-interesting numismatic tidbits and offerings of fresh-to-market coins. But just when I was getting a swelled head and started to ponder a 2nd career as a highly compensated e-newsletter writer, I received a text from a close friend in the coin business who has quite a different opinion:

“Just my personal observation is that your (newsletter) seems to get clogged up with some verbose minutia. If that appeals to a lot of people then you should keep it up, but I'm just giving you my personal take (maybe that also delays getting out your list?) “

He's absolutely right, of course. Between getting all of the new coins home from the show and photographed, then describing them, then performing my regularly scheduled procrastination duties, then finally getting to writing all of the verbose minutia and sending it out, I'm positive it could be out the door much sooner. But since I can't fire myself, and since these are still a lot of fun for me to write, I'll keep on plodding away as before.

Amen - don't stop, Dave. Anyone who's bored by this stuff can go back to reading their pricing guides and trading slabs. The rest of us will learn something. For instance, I just learned a great new phrase - "regularly scheduled procrastination duties". Plus this next item from Dave's newsletter... -Editor

1808 Contemporary Counterfeit 2 reales. Very Fine [uncertified]. Unlisted in the Kleeberg study, but it has since been given Kleeberg #08D-G4. This is the plate coin to John Lorenzo’s update to the Kleeberg study on these pieces, and still unique. While being unique is cool, that is not even the coolest part of this piece. At one point it must have circulated among a Spanish speaking population, and after discovery as a counterfeit it was stamped “FALSA”. Even after it was stamped, it appears that it circulated for some time after that. Well made, with abundant silvering still remaining. This coin would be a highlight of any collection of contemporary counterfeits. $785.

I don't believe I've run across one of these "FALSA" counterstamps before. Neat item. It would be interesting to listen to the conversation if a third-party grading firm had to certify it.

"It's a counterfeit."

"So we can't slab it?"

"Sure we can slab it - it's a contemporary counterfeit"

"So it's a genuine fake?"

"Something like that."

"But the counterstamp says 'FALSA' - doesn't that mean it's really, really fake?"

"Well, it's a genuine fake counterstamp"

"But Who's on First?"

"Very funny. Actually, a genuine coin came first. Then somebody made a fake of it. But not last week, last century. So it's a contemporary counterfeit, and that's considered genuine. Along the way somebody stamped it FALSA. But it's a FALSA genuine 2 reale, not a FALSA genuine fake. It's a real fake."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I'm not typing up that label."

-Editor