There are a couple of things that come to mind when I see the seemingly endless supply of 8 Reale coins appearing on e.bay , usually from the same group of dealers. Firstly I recall a television documentary recently in which a Chinese manufacturer was crowing about how there was 'nothing they couldn't reproduce' , so long as there was a demand, and if they can produce a Rolex watch in every detail, then a silver coin is not much of a challenge if the market is strong enough.
Recently I discovered two appalling fakes on e.bay being sold as genuine, these are so bad as to feature the WRONG KING !! No, they are not the famous 'Transitional' 1790 edition, these are Carolus IIII coins, which look convincing enough, but which have the inscription 'Carolus III ' and the date 1775 !!!! The manufacturers of these fakes haven't bothered to brush up on their European history.
The other thing which comes to mind is the similarity of these coins, particularly the 'Pillar Dollars' , notice how very few seem to feature the heavy 'tractor tyre' edge, having only a very thin rim when viewed face on. They all seem to be of the same few dates, 1750, 1747, 1770 being common fakes. These are also appearing in large numbers in Indonesia.
As always, 'CAVEAT EMPTOR' , Let the buyer BEWARE ! especially when viewing appealingly priced coins from Asia, if they seem too good to be true they probably are.
Fake from Thailand. Note the Plus Ultra ribbons passing BEHIND the pillars .
This one is dated 1801 . Weight given as 3 grams.


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