1922 Peace Dollar - Is This Really Contemporary Counterfeit?

The "ping" test is one of the most worthless tests. You can have enough silver without the full amount to get that sound

The ring of a coin when flipped depends on several properties of the coin, most chiefly the geometry and the speed of sound in the metal (also a frequency-dependent transmission coefficient into air). This cannot be fully reproduced by a different alloy than the correct one, in the exact proper size+shape of coin. Even enough wear will affect the ring.

Sure you can get a silver-like ping when jangling a coin that is not the correct alloy, but that's not what I'm talking about. You flip/ring the question coin and a known true one and listen for differences. There's some variability introduced by the way you strike the coin but in my experience this is a really good way of sorting coins based on alloy and picking out fake copper-cored morgans.

In my recent book "Forgotten Coins" I do a whole chapter on how to determine a Modern Chinese fake as compared to a contemporary circulating counterfeit of the period. One sign is the weight to regal. Most modern Chinese fakes are Fe/Ni, German Silver (Cu/Zn/Ni) or debased silver from my research on over 100 different pieces of various U.S. series. These will ring DIFFERENTLY than 90% silver such as German Silver having a lower pitch than 90% silver with the ring test. As one post recently suggested in this thread these early CCCs may have been made of tin/Lead (Sn/Pb). Its really a study of each series and then gaining/building a data base and the knowledge to differentiate between these Modern Chinese fakes and CCCs of the period - series by series based on your collecting interests. It can be complex. This appears to be a CCC or a Sn/Pb alloy based on the photo. John Lorenzo.