I bought this Fake 8 Reales 1825 Ferdinand VII from an Indonesian seller in Facebook with a very high price IDR750,000. He claim that this is an original coin and I cannot see nothing wrong from the pictures (he don't provide any coin edge picture) that he provided but when I received the coin after waiting for almost one month, I straightly look at the edge of the coin. The edge design is a bit funny, it look like man made design not by a machine. I don't have any original 8 reales coin to compare with the coin that I just received but I can find many of this coin pictures in Internet. The edge design is totally different from what I can see at other websites.
I don't straight away confirm that this is a fake coin since I don't have any knowledge of this kind of coin. The best way is to find a second opinion and someone with almost the same coin to compare it with. It took me a few days before I can meet Dickson Niew who I know have a Ferdinand VII 8 Reales coin in his possession. When I shown this coin to him, he also agree with the funny edge design. He then bring out his coin and straightly we can see a lot of difference for both coins. For this coin, the edge is the one most counterfeiters cannot copy, only machine can do the edge like the original coin. The fake coin has a messy look on its edge.
Why this coin is fake?
1. The edge design is wrong and look like a man made not by machine or Mint.
2. The coin is a little bit smaller then the real 8 reales coin. The coin doesn't exactly look round but a little bit oval shape.
3. After a tone test, we find out this coin give a thudding sound not a ringing sound like an original silver coin.
4. On the edge, there is a man made carved trace. Most probably to make sure the coin can get the near original coin weight 27gm. this coin weight in at 26.98gm.
5. The wording details on the coin is not sharp with some tiny sand holes on the coin.
After I confirm that this is a Fake 8 Reales 1825 Ferdinand VII coin, I straightly told the seller that he is selling fake coin. He still claim that his coin is original. When I asked him if he himself saw any original coin before, he don't reply.
You can read the name of the seller in this post; Untrusted Indonesian coin seller.
