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I Have Five Chinese Coins, Are They Legit?

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New Member

United Kingdom
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 Posted 12/23/2020  6:26 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add mgcraw to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Hey guys,

I hope you can help I have five Chinese coins, I'm wondering if they are legit? They look a bit green on the pics but in real life they're not at all.

I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?
I-Have-Five-Chinese-Coins,-Are-They-Legit?

Thanks!
Edited by mgcraw
12/23/2020 6:28 pm
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John1's Avatar
United States
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 Posted 12/23/2020  6:51 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add John1 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Pillar of the Community
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 Posted 12/23/2020  8:27 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Albert to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Just off hand I'd doubt any of these are legit.
But taken one coin at a time with good quality pictures will get you better answers.
Don't think or expect that any will be worth much of anything.
I collect and document fakes and those sold to tourists as novelties, I see some here.


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Spence's Avatar
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34428 Posts
 Posted 12/23/2020  8:41 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Spence to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
@mg, first welcome to CCF. Second, can you please confirm whether any of these pieces are attracted to a magnet? Thx.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb

"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
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Australia
16849 Posts
 Posted 12/23/2020  10:22 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
They look a bit green on the pics but in real life they're not at all.


I find that, in itself, is often a telltale sign that the coins are fake - the nickel-brass alloys often used to make these fakes looks good in hand, but looks greenish-yellow when photographed.

And they are all fake. You have a mixture of relatively common circulation coins (like the "fat man dollar") to excessively rare patter coins never issued for circulation (like the yin-yang-eight-trigrams-two-dragons tael).
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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 Posted 12/24/2020  05:28 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mgcraw to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks for your replies and welcomes guys! I have a reasonably strong magnet attached to a mechanics inspection light which none of these attract to at all. Is it worth me buying some nitric acid then rubbing these on an abrasive surface then pouring the acid on the dust to determine if there's any silver at all? Or shall I not even bother and just put them up on ebay with a 1p starting bid and stating that guys from this forum have indicated that they're fake? Maybe some one is interested enough in fakes to want them.

If any of the are even 50% silver to make them more convincing fakes I'd be happy.

Cheers!
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 Posted 12/24/2020  08:28 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It's against ebay policy to sell fake coins, even if you're honest about it and declare them to be fake. You're likely to get your listing pulled and a reprimand from ebay. The theory is that the next owner might not be so honest (or might simply be ignorant) and try to on-sell them as genuine. There are also some countries where ebay operates (such as Canada) where the sale of any kind of replica coins is illegal.

It's not worth testing them for silver - there won't be any. I can guarantee it.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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 Posted 12/24/2020  08:52 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mgcraw to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Ok thanks again Sap, I'll order the nitric acid any way as I have other silver coins also and it's quite interesting. If they do turn out to have any silver I'll post again, otherwise you can assume that I've thrown them in a trash.

Cheers!
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 Posted 12/24/2020  10:01 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Albert to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I was hoping for better pics to tell you more about your coins, but if all you want to know is if they are legit- they're not.
The 7-character YSK 5 yuan piece is a fantasy or novelty item. They were not made as a 5 Dollar piece, just the 1 dollar and smaller denominations.
The YSK piece with the 6 characters looks like it has the year 4 in it. This was never made in year 4. The 6-character legend would only have the year 3 in it.
Both of these are very common fakes and I have them in my collection. Your other pieces are also in my collection and are well documented as to what may be right or wrong about them.
If the bottom two pics are of the same coin, it has YUN-NAN province on one side and it looks like KWANG-SI (Guangxi) province on the other side, so those two don't belong on the same coin. Also in the back of my mind, I'm thinking Yunnan Province never made and Taels at all?
The 8 trigrams piece does resemble a legit coin that really was made in silver in 1858. It would be 41mm diameter, 2.75mm thickness and weigh 37.3 grams. Certainly your coin will not measure up and it certainly has no silver.
I overlooked another unlikely piece having Yunan Province on one side in English and having what looks like Chekiang in Chinese on the other side. So that cannot be a legit item. A legit coin would have the same province name on both sides. However in this case, as first stated, I don't think any legit tael would be Yunnan at all.
Edited by Albert
12/24/2020 12:30 pm
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 Posted 12/24/2020  11:15 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mgcraw to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks for your detailed response Albert! I think we'll all be very surprised if it turns out that any of them have any silver in them.
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 Posted 12/24/2020  12:34 pm  Show Profile   Check nss-52's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add nss-52 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Don't sell them on ebay (or anywhere) if they are counterfeit or as they often say "replicas".
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 Posted 12/24/2020  1:00 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Albert to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
A specific gravity test would show that these are not silver. I have in my collection and I have seen that green-gray color before. It's a telltale sign of some of the fake makers. I even have surplus of fakes made this way. So common that many are in the drawers having no need to duplicate by adding to the documented collection. But also know this: apart from the junk fake makers that produced your coins, there are others that make copy-coins or look-a-likes. And they really do use silver. However, they tend to be better made, imitating legit coins and are priced accordingly. Coins like that are in a whole different category and not present in your photos presented here. As far as value goes, I don't know about ebay, but when I get them they are discards from dealers that come across them. When I buy them to add to the collection I only pay no more than a dollar each. So it's dubious if it's even worthwhile to sell them. They do have a small following like me because they are interesting to study. It's sort of fun as a hobby to figure out what they are supposed to be and what they cannot be. I have hundreds of them in the books.
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oriole's Avatar
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 Posted 12/25/2020  10:44 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add oriole to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Unfortunately, these Chinese fakes (and not limited to coins from China) are a real plague on the hobby.
Edited by oriole
12/25/2020 10:45 am
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