Can someone tell me what I have here. It appears that it is from 1929 with a 1927 reverse? and obverse of Sun Yat-Sen. I cannot seem to find this coin in any book or online. It is not silver as it is magnetic. Is this a pattern, fantasy piece or just a plain fake? Thanks!!
And others don't match any real set of dies. The Chinese counterfeiters are nothing if not imaginative!
Can a fantasy issue be considered a fake or counterfeit? If so, what is it a fake or counterfeit of exactly?
Both jlbonde. There are known fantasy issues but they were produced by mint 'officially'. This however is obviously not a product from the Chinese mint. One can say whatever it is but I don't think it should be worth any more than scrap value. Who knows if it's loaded with poisonous lead. (lead paint anyone?)
I get your point. I always figured that a "Fake" was made to look like a real issue and intended to fool a collector. A "Counterfeit" was made during the time the coin was in circulation and intended to be passed along as money to be traded for goods or services. A "Fantasy" issue was made to resemble the coinage of a particular time in a country's history and to give it a "what if?" example. Also, fantasy coins could be made as intended "collector souvenirs" for a mythical place say, Gondor, from the Lord of the Rings saga. Chinese "counterfeiters", I've been told, do not make exact copies of real issues to avoid prosecution. They claim to be only making "souvenir" coins for tourists when questioned by authorities.
jlblonde - to be honest, Chinese counterfeiters couldn't care less. As long as they get a buck, that's all it matters regardless of death penalty. I do have a counterfeit 1 yuan coin which is worth a mere 12 US cents. If you say that they don't counterfeit their own currency, that's definitely not true. That's how ruthless they are. I know I have that coin in my collection somewhere - I suspect it's in another city. Will photograph it when I get to it. Only way to stamp out such counterfeits it to kill both supply and demand at the same time. Unfortunately it's people who are new to collecting coins help to feed profits to the counterfeiters which in turn churn more rubbish out.
