Please help me with these coins. It is original or fake? 1. KOREA 1 WHAN 1893 weight 26,82 g 250$ 2. JAPAN TRADE DOLLAR 1875 weight 27,10 g 180$
Here's one big tip: the Korean 1 whan coin is extremely scarce and it's reported that only 77 coins are left as most of the coins were melted down. That should be a 20,000 dollar coin. Weight and details (some parts) are just wrong. As for the Japanese trade dollar coin, I really doubt it's authencity especially if they are both coming from the same seller.
Thanks for interested gxseries Which details are wrong? How much should weight 1 whan? The two coins are from the same seller.
The dragon details on the whan coin doesn't seem to be struck properly. I've seen a lot of counterfeits and all of them have similar features. Once again, why would the seller sell it for so cheap if it's really rare??? You might think you are taking advantage of his ignorance of rare coins but I think it's the very opposite. The unfortunate reality is that there are high quality counterfeits out there in the market, one's usual knowledge of details, weight, diameter, SG gravity and such DOES NOT apply.
The Trade Dollar should weigh 27.22g, and in the condition shown there is no excuse for being light by more then a grain. Also check it's diameter, which should be exactly 38.58mm. I agree completely.
After a second look I noticed that the rim denticles on the Japanese coin are off. On the Japanese side (bottom most pic), the denticles between 9 and 10 o'clock recede almost into small dots. There can be some variation in length of rim denticles on genuine coins, but when there is variation in width, that is a big red flag for a copy. It also looks like someone rubbed the coins up to try and simulate wear.
The highest quality counterfeits I've ever seen were struck from laser etched dies, sometimes even struck in an old fashioned press. In this case the details of the design are not particularly helpful. However, the details of how they were struck are very helpful. If nothing else, differences in strike pressure are evident on such high quality fakes. Many times they have almost a grainy look to the luster because the pressure used is much higher than that which the originals were struck with. For other differences you need to examine it under a good microscope.
I doubt the Korea 1 Whan is authentic. Its got the same denticle problems as the Japanese Trade dollar. And the rims does not look right either.
