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Posted 04/07/2006 05:24 am
Chinese coins like these dollars were not only issued by the main mints, they were issued by military governments in the different provinces. The Y318a Sun Yat Sen issue was struck in Szechuan by the military government in 1927-1930 (Kann's illuistration is remarkably like the last photograph in the XENO.Ru illustration above, and those issues have to be considered at least semi- official.)The modern counterfeits are all low weight- they do ring, but not the right sounds for silver. The proper weight is 27 grams for the SYS issue. THe Yuan Shih Kai issue of year 9 (1920) should weigh 26.4 grams (both according to Krause), 27 grams according to Kann. The surface colour is not quite right on the counterfeits, they seem almost shiny, but examination with a glass will show roughnesss of the surface, as if the coin had been whizzed, and small raised pocks between the edge rifles, the dots or beadings of the border, and around the portrait. The main planchet is polished, but details made during the casting process cannot be completely cleaned. The modern copies often have slight inaccuracies in the circles of dots or the reeding around the edges. They are getting better- the number of pits is getting smaller, and the surface texture is imporoving. I was offered some at the last show I attended in Vancouver, which came from the guy's grandmother who had died in 1929- a YSK dollar, and a British Trade dollar, and both had the characteristic casting signs- I just asked him how strong his grandmothers ghost was, to travel to China and bring back coins which could not be more than 15 years old, and fake. He couldn't answer.
