Owner Comments:
Mintage: 6,000.
Weight 32.25806 g. Purity 900 fine. Diameter 35 mm.
Gold content: 0.9334 ounce.
Portrait of Alfonso XIII engraved in July 1895 at age 9.
Counterfeits of this 1897(62) coin that use a particular fake die are seen occasionally at coin auctions, but they can be spotted with a trained eye. Look for differences in the reverse-side coat of arms such as the shape of the castle stones, or the position of the Aragón dots and stripes, or the inner linkages in the chain's center link, or the stems and shoots of the fleurs-de-lis; and differences in some numbers and letters, such as the 8 in 1897, the D in "DIOS," the P and the final S in "PESETAS," and the tilde of the Ñ in "ESPAÑA." Also, the denticles around the rim, both obverse and reverse, are narrower in the counterfeit, wider in the authentic. And authentic coins have 152 denticles around the reverse rim, whereas counterfeit coins have only 148 denticles. (Both authentic and counterfeit coins have 148 denticles around the obverse rim.) Authentic restrikes used only the original 1897 dies. There are NO authentic die variations.
You can view high-resolution photographs of one of the counterfeits at Heritage Auctions online, click on Auction Archives, search "Spain 100 pesetas gold," scroll down to Lot 25760, which is a counterfeit. Compare Lot 25760's photographs to photographs of any of forty-plus other 100-peseta lots that show authentic coins. The set example pictured above is also authentic.
According to Áureo & Calicó in Barcelona, the counterfeits were created by a private mint for the jewelry trade: "Falsa de joyería. Sirvió como joya." This is reiterated by Soler y Llach in Barcelona, "Reproducción.... Realizada con posterioridad par su uso en joyería," and by Tauler & Fau in Madrid, "Reproducción de joyería."
The counterfeits contain real gold but their purity is suspect. Soler y Llach and Tauler & Fau consider the purity of the counterfeits 750 fine. APMEX described a counterfeit as having 2.8 mm thickness, which would imply a lesser-purity gold coin trying to match the weight of an authentic 900-fine coin (authentic coins have 2.4 mm thickness). But even at equal weight a 750-fine counterfeit would contain 1/6 less gold than a 900-fine authentic coin.
In a June 18, 2019, auction by Tauler & Fau in Madrid (E-Auction 32, with seven counterfeit and five authentic examples of comparable grades up for auction), counterfeit examples sold for an average of 68% of authentic examples ($851 vs $1246, average hammer price at the euro/dollar exchange rate on the auction day).