Sorry about the vague title. I honestly no nothing about coins except for what my dad has taught me. One of my dad's many hobbies is coin collecting. This is what brings me here. I'm an American Expat in Taiwan and I recently stumbled onto a boutique where I was buying Chinese charms. ANYWAYS. I saw a small basket of coins on the counter top. I thought hey! This would be something to send home. (Even if they turn out to be fake...) Note: I obviously washed these coins, because they were brown when I bought them. I cleaned them first with and eraser then secondly with warm soap water and an old soft toothbrush. THESE ARE NOT MAGNETIC! ALREADY TESTED! this one goes with the last picture The year for the first set is not listed. The second one's year is 60 of Meiji Era. I looked at a website and it said it's "type-II." The last one's date is 52, but I'm not sure which era.
Well bad news/bad news First, never clean a coin like you describe. It ruins its value, I mean dramatically. If these coins had been real, you would have just lost hundreds of dollars. That brings me to second bad news. I believe these are all copies. Copies of these issues are extremely common all over Asia, (and the US and Ebay now). They are heavily faked. The best way for us to know is for you to weigh them and we can let you know if the weight is correct. Sorry to say I am really hoping they are fakes, since if they aren't you ruined 3 nice coins. Chris
^__^ Thank you for your quick reply. This is more for my dad's personal hobby, so I would just like to know if they are real or not. We're not going to sell them period. That's why I never asked about value. I just edited my post again updating some important. :/ I'm still trying to upload the last picture.
I understand sir, but if your father is a coin collector he would not want these coins cleaned. He would also recognize that by cleaning them the way you did you permanently damaged them. That is why I also brought it up, that and in case anyone else was reading this. I see you updated they are not magnetic. That is a piece of information, but we would still need weights. I have many fakes I got in group lots, (I knew they were fakes), that are not magnetic. Being magnetic would prove they are fakes, but not being magnetic simply proves they are not magnetic fakes. Chris
^__^ Thank you, ignorance is not bliss in this case. My dad has cleaned coins before with some special clothe before, that I recall. :/ I am a ma'am, so maybe that has something to do with wanting it cleaned. (Hahaha) I don't have a scale to measure it with, at least not one that would be of use. I have seen an example of one of them online and the dimensions where 38.6mm that matched. As you said though, these could just be really good fakes.
^^ Most people, like my dad... haha I know. I'm a young 'wipper snapper' to him. I'll try to find a measure cup and try water displacement of the coins. Would that be accurate enough? Personally they do feel heavy to me, but what do I know? Nothing~ If anyone knows the names of these coins that would be enough for me
Well the first two are pretty straightforward, a Hupeh province dollar and a Japanese 1 yen. The last pic would be a Fengtien province dollar, which is quite rare. As medoraman already informed you they are all fakes. That is apparent in the difference in details. For the Hupeh dollar - the strike is very weak/flat, which is not what you would see on a genuine one. The Japanese yen - some of the spines on the dragon's back have blunt ends, where they should all have sharp tips. Also some of the rim denticles vary in thickness. The dragon's face on the Fengtien dollar is depicted all wrong. If a genuine coin was minted with such a representation of the dragon, someone would likely be put to death for it back around the turn of the century. Sorry you got bad news about these, but they are good reference examples to have to avoid getting more forgeries in the future. Also, most modern forgeries are not magnetic.
Just to add to Numismat's comments, the "Hu Peh Province" means the coin was minted in Hu Peh (Hubei) Province. However, the other side of the coin states in Chinese that it was made in Shansi (Shanxi) Province. Obviously, the coin could not have been made in two places. The Chinese side of the coin also states that it was minted during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor. However, the Shansi Province mint did not make any silver coins during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor. The first silver coins made at the Shansi Province mint were produced during the reign of his successor, the Xuantong Emperor ("the Last Emperor"). Gary
