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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,348 |
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
I found this in the parking lot where I work. I know nothing about coins. I am not even sure that it is a coin. But it sure is interesting.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
A pic would help :) I bet I can id it for you in less than a minute.  And oh right,  |
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Moderator
 Australia
16808 Posts |
Having trouble posting pics? Click here for the tutorial.  Or download the pics onto a photo hosting site like Photobucket and post the URL. 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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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1415 Posts |
to CCF  Quote:
A pic would help :) I bet I can id it for you in less than a minute Do I see a challenge here? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
... bumped for the Quote:
Do I see a challenge here?
... competition  Edited by wd1040
04/21/2009 4:16 pm
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Moderator
 United States
6563 Posts |
Info moved from 2nd threadQuote:
Sorry guys as I said I am new to this.  
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1077 Posts |
8 and a half hours and counting.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
Doesn't count! I just woke up! Anyways, it's a standard silver coin (7m and 2c is one "liang" or tael) weighing around 40gr. This would be a precursor to the silver dollar used in China. It should have .78oz of silver, which is the same as an American silver dollar. You can see it's minted in Guangdong Province (Kwangtung was its old Englicized name) and... it was minted during the reign of this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxu_EmperorSo, look at this, you are either extremely luck to find this coin in this condition (it's worth at least $200) or that it's a fake. The color already doesn't look like silver. But, I haven't really seen a lot of fakes from Canton/Guangdong, so you might want to check if it's real. You can try tapping it with another coin while having it suspending it on the tip of your finger. If it rings, then it's silver. If it doesn't, then it's a fake. Anyways, fakes don't come cheap either. |
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Moderator
Australia
16808 Posts |
Actually, 7 mace and 2 candareens is the weight of a silver dollar, weighing around 27 grams; the tael was slightly heavier.
Either way, this one's a fake. Or rather, a fantasy - I haven't spotted anything with that design in the coin catalogues, or on zeno.ru.
These things are shipped over by the containerload from China. They come in all sorts of designs, from believable copies of fake coins to blatantly hilarious fakes. They're typically sold in street markets for $2 to $3 each. Needless to say, it's not going to be made of silver.
I strongly suspect that there's either a weekend flea market in the carpark, or someone else found out it was fake, and threw it away.
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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Pillar of the Community
United States
3098 Posts |
oh... I always thought the silver dollar was just a modern replacement for the tael. Thanks for telling me that!
And by the way Jack, a real one should have 4 Manchu words in the middle of the 4 Chinese characters.
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New Member
 United States
4 Posts |
Hi guys. I put the coin on the tip of my finger and tapped it with another coin as David suggested and it rang with a high pitch. Does this mean anything?
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Valued Member
United States
156 Posts |
The ringing sound that you get when you tap the coin means that it is not a cast counterfeit. Cast coins make a dull sound when tapped.
This appears to be a die-struck fantasy coin. The high ring suggests to me that it could have a steel core. Does it stick to a magnet?
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
Thanks Buzzard I didn't think of that. I'll try it right now. Yes, it did stick to a magnet. Well guess that settles that. Thanks guys.
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,348 |
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Posted 04/21/2009 05:40 am
