Quote:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...
I thought that I would share a couple Fat Man Dollars with you. One is obviously fake, while I'm quite sure that the other is real. Somehow this quote from Dickens helps tie it all together. I'm interested in folks' thoughts on both pieces and my conclusions.
Recall that the so-called Fat Man silver dollars are 1 Yuan silver coins minted sporadically in the first half of the 20th Century. Here is a link to the numista page on them:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3849.html They have been extensively faked for decades and we routinely see these on CCF, often with a backstory of a box being handed down to a nephew of a soldier who fought in the Vietnam War or else an impulse buy at a flea market.
I have several fakes of this coin in my black cabinet, including a "double fat man", with the portrait on both sides.

Now the data:
Coin A:
Mass: 24.9 g
Diameter: 39 mm
Thickness: 3.0 mm
Specific Gravity: 8.0
Attracted to a magnet? no
Edge: reeded and chamfered
Alignment: medal
Purported year of issue: 1921 AD
Silver content, as estimated by a Sigma Metalytics Precious Metal Verifier: less than 80% if any at all
Other: unusually detailed hair
Coin B:
Mass: 26.8 g
Diameter: 39 mm
Thickness: 2.7 mm
Specific Gravity: 9.9
Attracted to a magnet? no
Edge: reeded
Alignment: medal
Purported year of issue: 1914 AD
Silver content, as estimated by a Sigma Metalytics Precious Metal Verifier: a little under for the 92.5% silver scale, but definitely in there for the 90% silver, pre-1945 scale
Other: chop marked
Her are pics of the coins, starting with Coin A:


and Coin B:


Here is a comparison of the edges, clearly showing the chamfering on the top coin (coin A):

I should note that my scale is not really accurate enough to do a bullet-proof specific gravity test, but the results seem to be quite close for a coin that should be 89% silver and one that is some sort of copper/nickel/zinc alloy.
Any thoughts as to the relevance of the chamfer on the obvious fake? Of the 15 or so fakes in my black cabinet, this is diagnostic for them. It slightly reduces the mass of the coin, which makes it easier to tell that it is underweight, but perhaps it is used to mask some aspect of the manufacturing?