Determining ID And Authentication Of A Chinese Coin

I don't think I have ever seen a sycee that cleanly cast... I am fairly certain it is a modern creation, as all genuine examples I have seen are pitted and holed at the bottom due to the silver cooling before it could completely fill the mold.

I'd just comment that the quantity of bogus material coming out of China over the last few decades has been simply enormous, and that there's been no demonstration of scruples regarding forging artifacts from their own history so long as there's a profit to be made. These counterfeiters are also smart enough to apply appropriate wear and patina to their creations. There's a reason why Chinese antiquities long considered nearly unobtainable seem to turn up all the time almost anywhere in the world nowadays.

The prudent approach to items like this is to presumptively treat them as reproductions until proven otherwise.

pirgah At least the genuine examples of Saycee are rare. Most hit the melting pots decades ago in particular after the edicts in 1935.

Specific gravity would be helpful in this case because there are none of the irregular features associated with slow casting seen on this one.

The age of a Saycee ingot can be estimated by the elemental trace contaminants so an XRF test is a good idea. Make sure the silver matches the era of production.

If I had to give you odds on authenticity I would say 99-1 against. There are no dings on the base which would be associated with silver metal.