4 Reales Counterfeit

Mexican 4 reales pieces were already an anachronism by 1876 — the denomination had been officially discontinued in favor of the decimal peso system introduced in 1863. A contemporary counterfeit of a defunct coin suggests either a forger working from old stock with no knowledge of current currency law, or a deliberate exploitation of rural populations still accepting pre-decimal coinage by habit. The silver-plated brass construction is consistent with workshop forgeries of the period rather than crude cast copies.