Found on the beach - Spanish Cob Replica or Real?

Hi- was on a family camping trip in St Augustine, Florida (oldest us city) and dug this up at our campsite.
Fairly sure it is a replica of a Spanish Cob, I am assuming replica coins are popular in that town. I do not know a lot about coins, it is heavy, not magnetic, and worn on the edges. How do you tell if it is a replica? Any idea on worth? thanks for reading!
Melissa

 

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Welcome to the neighborhood, Melissa!

I can't tell you anything about the early coinage that was used in the New World, but I can tell you that many of the Spanish wrecks that occurred along the Florida shores have still never been found.

Chris

 

Thanks for the welcome-
My dad traveled a lot while I was growing up and he always brought home coins for me, but this treasure sparked a new interest

 

Hi Melissa a few things first was this coin found burried? have you any idea of its weight? I think it a repo as a beach find always have alot of wear on them as well as pitting. The coin you posted looks like it brand new. It does have a FlorenzadaCross 1572 -1733 mint mexico ....my thinking maybe the town salted some beaches as a promo to get people excited about a nice vacation and a very cool find. get back to me on the weight and my other question. Paddy

 

It does have the shield of Philip lll OM to the left of the shield is the Mexico mint mark can you tell me what the letter under the OM is? ?Maybe an FD ? as it is not clear in your pictureAn FD would date it around the 1570-1598 time frame. This is what a beach find looks like....see how smooth and pitted.

 

It was buried, We (actually my 1 1/2 year old) dug it up with his beach toys at our campsite. The campsite is part of a state park and is located on the beach, however the campsite was about 1/2 a mile from the ocean. I will have to find a way to weigh it tomorrow, it is heavier and bigger than a current US Dollar Coin, but that's as close as I can give you right now, will get back with you on the weight.

Under the O and M it does look like an FD (F inside a D) - the edges are rounded and smooth so hard to tell. Thanks for your help!

 

What is the blue and pinkish colors on the cross side someone try coloring it? Like a 1 1/2 y/o LOLA jeweler can weight it as I need the weight in Grams it should fall between 27 - 28 grams for an 8 reale.

 

Ha! didn't notice before, actually looks like he used it as a PlayDoh stamp :-S
it came off I will weigh tomorrow. Thanks!

 

Welcome to CT Melissa. Cool find, I hope it's real.

 

OK- here is the update on weight. it weighs 21.2 grams. Hope that helps!

 

Sounds like its not withing the range to be authentic. Paddy- is there a tolerance factor built in for these pieces?

 

Unless it lost weight due to salt water activity, usually they were pretty tight tolerances. These cobs were mainly used as an accounting device to ensure proper credit for silver shipped back to Spain. As such, they didn't care about the quality of the coin, but DID care about weight.

Since it does not appear to be sea salvage, I would be suspicious of it. If you are still in FL OP there are some treasure coin shops in that state that could verify it for you.

 

no the book says 8 reales 22 -28 grams 4 reales 11-14 2 reales 5-7 grams and 1 2.5 -3.5 but most I have seen fell in the heavy 26 to 28 grams but one has to remember is that they also cut off the coins {pieces of eight} I take it to a jeweler and check if its silver hard to tell from your picture with the playdoh LOL JK but it still may be real I could tell right a way in hand but again it could be a silver copy poured into a cast mold. Keep us posted after you find out the content in the medal.

The cross don't look right and the edges compare it to my beach find from the Johanna the edges look rounded like a case reproduction...but if its silver you got about $30 +/- in medal there

 

What book you want Doug
Kathern Jones Archaeological diver for Mel Fisher Coins of lost galleons
Practial book of cobs Frank Sedwick
Compendium of eight reales Abriel Calbeto
Identification guide to spanish colonial coins Henry Taylor
Standard catalog of Mexican coins Alberto Pradeau

 

Just randomly ran across this thread. In case you still have that coin, it is a common fake cast replica. Sometimes they are at least cast in silver, othertimes they are pewter. Either way, unfortunately 100% a common fake. I have several of the exact same one. Still fun to find!

 

Plated over copper! St. Augustine souvenir

 

You mean like from a gift store?

 

OP hasn't been here for going on 12 years.