A friend of mine recently gave me this coin as a gift and while I certainly appreciate it, I'm not 100% convinced that it's authentic. He and I are both fairly serious coin collectors, so we certainly wouldn't be duped by a poor fake, but I'm just a bit out of my element on this one. Maybe one of the experts on these coins can shed some light Here are some pics I tried my best to compare my coin to some online resources, but I couldn't get a definitive answer. I also did a magnet slide test and it definitely passed (that said, so would copper). Can anyone help me out here?
I mean the weight and diameter check out more or less right but there's just not that much info on this particular coin online. I can't find it (specifically this Yun Nan Province version) on Numista and I am also just aware that these are all heavily counterfeited coins. Also, I saw this write up about the coin and the arabic looking characters in the center look just like the fake one in the write up (https://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins.pl?coin=17910)
Weakness in letters not associated with wear, and overall look is what makes me suspicious. Would love to see what is would read in terms of silver content. Weight for silver fakes is very easy to copy, just add a little lead to pot metal.
Those are Manchurian writing. It's almost an extinct language now, but it was still important during the time of the ruling Qing (Manchu) dynasty. The Han majority didn't particularly like being ruled by the Manchus, and it is reputed that some of the anti-Qing rebel groups formed the basis for the organized crime Triad groups later. (Sorry, I have to chime in for the Manchus. There are only about 10 million of them out of like 1.4 billion Han people. And my wife and kids are part Manchu!) Anyway, as to the coin, unfortunately I don't have a copy to compare. I thought the text on the "mace and candareens" looked very suspicious compared to what I've seen on other provinces, but the example real coin on the web site has similarly goofy text. So I'm stumped. One point in its favor is that it actually shows a good bit of wear. Fakes may be artificially aged, but they don't tend to show much real wear from usage. Good luck!
Here are the pics of the edge. What do you think? Also, do you know where I can find resources on the specs? Like I'm not even 100% sure what the weight should be or what an authentic one from this province should look like
Not an expert on this coin but the fake Chinese silver coins i have all have that black crap on the edges, a side effect of the stuff they put all over the coin to try to make it look old. Have you done a specific gravity test to see if it is silver? (love your channel btw, i'm a subscriber)
I’d have to agree with others, the black edges look pretty clearly like they’ve been added on and the lettering weakness seems very abnormal, considering the heavily counterfeited nature of these early 1900s Chinese coins I reckon it’s a fake.
I should have done this earlier, but I did a magnet slide test...and it failed miserably. Thanks for all your help!
I do not own a Yun-nan dragon dollar, only a half dollar. However, I did come across this dollar from PCGS website: https://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/item/nd-1908-1-y-254-lm-418/166117/7096136753758875674 Hope this helps you.
