A new book available for sale on Amazon covers
the topic of Counterfeit Portrait Eight-Reales. Here's the
web site blurb (with minor corrections and edits by the author).
-Editor
Counterfeit Portrait
Eight-Reales: The Un-real Reales (Counterfeit Eight-Reales)
(Volume 1)
Paperback – September 2, 2014
by Robert Gurney (Author)
Gordon Nichols (Contributor)
John Lorenzo (Contributor)
The portrait style Spanish-American eight-reales was one of
the most well-known, and extensively circulated silver trade
coins that the world has ever seen. Produced in Spain's new
world colonies from 1772 to 1825, the coin made Spain a major
player on the world financial stage in the eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries. This was due in large measure to the fact
this coin accounted for about sixty percent of the annual silver
production worldwide.
The popularity and general acceptance of this particular coin
– the portrait style piece-of-eight – made it the object of
forgers who operated in all areas of the globe. It was a coin not
merely counterfeited in the countries of origin, but in all of
the places where it was accepted as currency in day-to-day
transactions. It was produced in small back-room operations and
in large factories. It was produced at times in utter secrecy,
yet at other times it was more or less an “open secret.” It was
produced as both worthless base metal copies and as “perfect”
imitations containing the correct amount of silver. It has been
made to circulate as currency, as well as to specifically deceive
collectors.
The fascinating story of these counterfeit issues created from
shortly after the coin appeared until the present, is the subject
of this book. The author, Robert Gurney, known to many coin
collectors as “Swamper Bob,” has been a lifelong enthusiast of
the series. His interest commenced as a teen when he met and
spoke to one of the forgers who actually made these coins for a
living in the 1920's. The story may at times not seem
possible, but the newest scientific tests available provide
conclusive evidence for the production of counterfeit versions
made for circulation as late as 1930.
With contributions made by several notable collectors,
including Richard August, John Lorenzo and Gordon Nichols, this
book documents the four different classifications of counterfeit
eight-reales developed by the author to fit the needs of this
particular series. The book illustrates and describes literally
hundreds of different types of counterfeits known to have
circulated alongside the genuine versions. It specifically
expands upon the Thirty-nine varieties noted by Dr. John L.
Riddell as existing in circulation in New Orleans in 1845, and
swells that number to some 589 varieties.
This book was not written just for coin collectors, the
subject is actually much broader. It is at its heart a history of
the coin covering a period of 240 years of use and production. It
is also the story of the methods and reasons for producing both
counterfeits and forgeries during that same interval. The players
and their motivations for the production of deceptive copies for
over 240 years, provides insight into human nature.
The book is presented as a start to a long needed discussion -
one that is decades overdue. It is only a start. The author hopes
that this publication will bring old counterfeits out of their
hiding places and into the light of day, where the varieties from
childishly crude to artistically superb can be appreciated by
everyone.
Solamente el comienzo!
Product Details
Series: Counterfeit Eight-Reales
Paperback: 600 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform;
First edition (September 2, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500497177
ISBN-13: 978-1500497170
Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
About the author
Robert Richard Gurney is a native son of Massachusetts and a
Twelfth generation Yankee, now retired and living in the land of
Andy Griffith. Educated as a Civil Engineer, he holds a B.S in
Civil Engineering, S.C.L. from the University of Massachusetts,
Dartmouth. He is married to his first true love, Elizabeth
(Bixler) Gurney and together they have three children. A nearly
lifelong coin collector and avid student of history, Gurney has
spent decades collecting and analyzing counterfeit coins that
circulated as currency in the United States before 1857.
Since meeting a self-confessed forger, who claimed to have
produced counterfeit silver Mexican eight-reales in the 1920s,
Gurney has been fascinated by these “foreign” coins that
represented about 90% of the circulating silver specie in the
United States before the Civil War. Always a supporter of the
UNDERDOG (think the Red Sox in 1967), Gurney hopes to place the
eight-reales counterfeit coins on an even footing with other
series of counterfeit coins seen as being collectable. He views
the Contemporary Counterfeit Portrait Eight-Reales as a long
neglected underdog in the world of numismatics.
Noting that the book is described as
"Volume 1", I asked Bob about his future plans. He
supplied the following background on the project, including
negotiations with the American Numismatic Society on its
publishing. Thanks! -Editor
Regarding my second volume - I plan to produce a volume
devoted to the Cap and Ray counterfeits. My emphasis there will
be on the varieties similar to the coins listed in Riddell's
"Monograph of the Silver Dollar, Good and Bad"
from 1845 and I plan to extend those listings to coins dated as
late as the end of the first republic ca 1862.
If time (my time on earth) allows I then plan to expand the
coverage of the Cap and Ray counterfeits into the period of the
second Republic and through 1897.
I actually started with the Portrait coin book project because
that opportunity was presented to me first. The project, as I
currently understand the process, was initially developed by the
former curator of the ANS (Mr. Hoge) in conjunction with Mike
Ringo, John Lorenzo and Gordon Nichols. The primary author was to
be Mike Ringo. After Mike's death, I was asked to get
involved.
It began as a collaborative effort at first, but in the long
run I became primary author by agreement of the others. John
Lorenzo was to write the coin descriptions and he also wrote the
sections on metal analysis and XRF testing. Gordon Nichols did
the initial die classifications for 120 coins using the ANS
preferred system which treated obverse and reverse dies
independently. This method has been shown to work with Half
Pennies and Two reales and it was assumed that it would be good
for the Portrait 8Rs as well.
As time passed and the book grew, I felt we had to scrap the
system in favor of a model (similar to Davignon) that linked the
two dies into mated pairs of date AND mint taken together. This
was necessary because the vast majority of contemporary
counterfeit portrait coins carry the Mexico City mint mark and
because sharing of dies was clearly not as commonplace among the
dollar sized coins as it was for half pennies or Two reales.
Where most half pennies share dies in nearly 50% of cases and two
reales share dies in over one third of cases - the 8Rs share dies
in only 5% of cases. I chose to use mated pairs because it
represented 95% of all cases.
One of the critical elements of the book which led to the
American Numismatic Society backing out of publishing the book
(with my wholehearted agreement) was that I wanted to include the
topic of the silver counterfeits made from 1830-1930 for the
China trade. ANS saw the "story" as unbelievable even
though I have historic documentary evidence and scientific
testing to support my theories. Of course I also had a chuckle
for myself because the person doing the review for ANS believed
that the coin I used on both front and rear covers of the book
was REAL. It is actually a Sheffield plate counterfeit confirmed
by both XRF tests and Specific Gravity. It has under 60% of the
appropriate silver content and has a clear ribbon seam in the
dentils. Yet the reviewer said we were wrong to identify the coin
as a counterfeit since it was most likely genuine.
There were a few other critical issues where I could not see
eye to eye with ANS either. I wanted to list coin-like-objects
such as buttons, religious, political medals, hobo-carvings,
replicas and other uses (using one or two examples of each type)
just to spur interest in those collectables. ANS wanted to reduce
the section to one page. I wanted to define terms and create a
glossary for things like "colonial" to distinguish
between US colonial (ends 1776 to 1781) and Spanish colonial
(ends 1820 - 1830). ANS wanted to use existing terms as they are
currently used because that was adequate and my definitions were
confusing.
I chose to list four types of fraudulent or unlawful coins -
Contemporary Circulating (base metal) - Contemporary Circulating
(silver) - Numismatic Forgeries (made for collectors) and Frauds
(mined or doctored coins etc.). However ANS saw no value in that
and preferred only two classes contemporary and modern
counterfeits.
I chose to include complete typescripts of Riddell (1845) and
Bordeaux (1905) because the texts of both works needs to be
readily at hand for understanding the book. ANS wanted those
eliminated because they could be found elsewhere. I wanted to use
descriptions of the coins that relied on the use of pictures
backed up by available Disc copies of all the coins but ANS
wanted detailed written descriptions of each coin so they could
be identified without pictures.
The ANS rejection was for me a blessing. It allowed me to go
further afield and to include necessary discussion points -
things beginning collectors need to know and understand. ANS and
I wanted to produce different books for different audiences. The
split was absolutely necessary.
Anyway that is why and how things reached this point.
I have always wanted to do a book on the early Cap and Ray
Counterfeit coins because I started collecting them first when I
was a pre-teen. I did not even own a counterfeit Portrait 8R
until 1960. I also have a much larger collection of Cap and Ray
8R counterfeits (3,600) compared to just about 600 Portrait 8R
coins so I have much more to work with as far as raw material
goes. I also view the counterfeiting of the Cap and Ray coins as
far more straight forward an activity than the Portraits because
the C&R 8Rs did not have the market driver caused by the
premium paid by the Chinese for Charles IV 8Rs from Mexico
City.
Here's a picture of the first counterfeit Portrait
counterfeit that I got from a self-confessed counterfeiter in
1960-2 who said he made it in Massachusetts the 1920s. The coin
has been proven to have too little gold as a contaminant (to have
been made in 1805) by two different XRF laboratories and this
coin is the basis for my belief that full weight silver
counterfeits were produced for the China trade as late as
1930.
A recent test run at RTI International has returned a
preliminary signature match with an example of the 1896-O micro O
Morgan dollar. I am resubmitting both coins to RTI next week for
XRF re-testing with a brand new state of the art XRF testing
machine which will do far finer analysis of the trace
contamination (down to 1 ppm for 72 elements) in the hopes of
proving that the source of both coins is identical.
For more information, or to order, see:
Counterfeit Portrait Eight-Reales: The Un-real Reales
(Counterfeit Eight-Reales) (Volume 1)
(www.amazon.com/Counterfeit-Portrait-Eight-Reales-Un-real-Reales/dp/1500497177/)
Wayne Homren, Editor
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