Why Are Fantasy Coins Being Graded By The Big TPGs?

swamperbob, nobody know when those 2 coins are made, not even the people who "graded" the coins. The seller just put a phony year on the auction page, so that buyers think they are bidding a valuable authenticated antique coin.

swamperbob,

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt...=1up;seq=691
I found it, Fig B19 at the bottom section.
Thanks,

If someone make a coin with new ching dynasty figure and send it for grading. I wonder how the examiner justify the coin.

The items (not really coins) in the Fantasy group apparently come mostly from Kann's own collection. He mentions some (about 1% of the 1700) were supplied by Spink. He indicates that his book was an attempt to compile data from several earlier written sources. He completed his compilation by June of 1953 and his book was published in 1954. The earlier books noted were as follows: (1) Coins in China's History by Coole, 1936 and 1937 editions. (2) Illustrations of Chinese Gold, Silver and Nickel coins, by Tsiang 1939 which used drawn pictures of coins. (3) Modern Coins of China, by Shih published in 1949.

He does not catalog the bronze and copper coins which he said would take a lifetime to understand. Instead he covers silver and gold coinage from 1837 onward. He indicates that modern presses were introduced into China in 1889 and about 2 billion dollar sized coins were issued from 1889 until 1954. He also indicates that 1.1 Billion of these dollar coins were melted and the silver sold to the US before 1954. A total of almost 3 billion ounces of silver was sold by Nationalist China by Kann's estimate.

He does not cover foreign coins used by China as money.

He also covers nickel and aluminum coinage and indicates that issuance of those coins dates from about 1912.

The Fantasies are shown on plates 206 to 223 and consist of 110 items consecutively numbered 1-110. These numbers are all prefixed with the letter B. The locations were provided by Kann. The item referred to as B-19 is found on Plate 209. I know in one of the references I read the date of the set of silver emperor's was being estimated as approximately 1900-1910. The date of 1908 sticks in my mind but I can not find the reference.

The Forgeries are shown on plates 196 to 205 these are not numbered consecutively but all are preceded with F. I have never counted the number in this book but the numbers rise by hundreds apparently by type and there is room for additions in the future. I presume that was intentional.

Medallions are found in Plates 193 to 195. The metal used and the dates are typed into this section.

Souvenir Medals are found on plates 189 to 192.

Coinage issues run from plates 4 to 188.

Mint Sports - 5 in all are found on plate 224. These are not numbered and were believed by the author(s) to have been strikes using genuine muled dies (where obverse and reverse did not belong on the same coin.)

Many of the Kann items including the "fantasy issues" are now considered to be collectable. In fact when he wrote the book Kann said that some collectors were already interested in them which is why he included them. He was more of a purist and felt the coins were the most important. I agree with that. He did dismiss most counterfeit issues as not being collectable but he includes dozens of types. The most critical fact is that all of the coins illustrated in Kann were made BEFORE 1954.

Coins not illustrated by Kann may have been omissions on his part. However in most cases, items he did not illustrate can be thought of as being POST 1954.

This gives us a snapshot in time of the Fantasies, Medals and some of the Counterfeits (forgeries) that existed in 1954. He indicated that made for collector frauds were already being made in 1954 and collectors can only wish that he included pictures of all of these items so that we could see the circulating debased counterfeits as well as the numismatic forgeries that existed in 1954.

So if someone produces a new counterfeit, forgery or fantasy today it is unlikely to match precisely the illustrations of Kann. Since all of the gold and silver coins were removed from circulation forcibly by the Chinese Communists before 1954 (including privately held collections of rarities) at nominal values, many genuine Chinese coins were destroyed. Most of the coins that survived in high grades did so outside China. Only buried hoards (buried and forgotten because the owners died) remain to satisfy collectors.