1867 Shang Hai Custom? Could it BE?

1867 Shang Hai Custom? Please Help!

http://chinacoins.chez.tiscali.fr/page1.html

Theres a link to what it could be. I have that coin or at least it appers so. It's the same weight and dimensions, and it doesn't have any of the "Sunburst" patters on the outside of the dragon circle like other versions of similar coins have. Anyone know if they made recreations and how you can spot one? Also, does anyone know if that's the correct value(roughly)? I've looked very very closely and the detail work seems to match the picutre in the photograph.

 

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Let me stress that any help would be greatly greatly appreciated as finding information beyond the one site i posted is next to impossible it seems. I would like another confirmed source, or someone just to tell me about the coin. Thank you

 

According to your reference site it's a pattern, of which there are only 10 in existence. What makes you think you have found an eleventh?

Pattern coins typically do not have multiple varieties.

The Chinese coin forgers never met a coin they didn't want to copy! "Authentic" Japanese Trade Dollar patterns show up on eBay regularly, despite the fact that the mints and museums owning every genuine example are known.

5,000 Euros ($ 6,183.87) is an extremely conservative valuation for such a coin.

Some of the counterfeiters are real artists. To quote from the home page of the website you referenced:

Bottom line, if you truly believe you have found a genuine example of that pattern coin, get it authenticated by one of the big four third party graders. No knowledgeable collector is going to buy it from you for a fraction of its true value, without authentication. Just realize that if it isn't genuine, the TPG won't give you your money back.

 

Thanks for the info. I figure I'll get it checked out since if it is a forgery its a damn good one(not saying it isn't). Are any of the major four situated or available in Canada, and what exactly do they do to authenticate it? I assume the "sunburst" designs are from cheap rip offs off ebay.

Edit* Do cool forgeries have a low market? I dunno like 20 bucks or something? Just curious.