Ancient Chinese Authentication Test - Huo Bu Spades

Hopefully, this will be fun as well as educational.

Here are five different Huo Bu spades from the Wang Mang period. I guarantee that at least one is genuine. I am pretty sure the ones that I will label as counterfeits are, in fact, counterfeits. That means I have enough doubt to keep me from buying them.

Hint: It is generally a good rule that genuine Ancient Chinese coins have sharp character strokes, rims, and corners, where applicable.

Good luck!

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I'll guess #4 is OK. Photo #1 is too small to tell.

 

guessing #1. these are very interesting.

 

i'll guess 4....i haven no idea however.

 

I´ll go with 5.

 

#4. I picked this because everything looked the sharpest on that one.

 

Given your hints, it pretty much has to be # 4, although the "patina" on several of the others might be more convincing at first glance than the smooth surfaces on # 4

 

i think that's what makes me think it's 4, it looks awfully smooth and shiny.

 

I've handled thousands of these over the years. The rough unfinished edges on #3 indicates likely modern. However, from a photo I cant tell. Chinese really need to be seen in many cases. #4 however is from a well known hoard, so I dont doubt that one at all.

 

Due to a lack of new responses, I will reveal my opinions.

1. Fake. The patina was the main thing that I saw wrong; It looks glossy. The characters and saggital line look too think for this type. Reminds me of a best66666 specimen.

2. Fake. From a Canadian seller on eBay. Many of the corners are rounded, and the characters are thick and fat. The patina is also very suspicious, especially on the reverse, and there is an abnormal coarseness to the surface.

3. Fake. This is from a seller on VCoins. The characters and rims are too thick, and the style is generally "off." The other Wang Mang spades from this seller (NB-Numismatics) are suspect as well.

4. Genuine. This piece is currently housed in a museum, and is one of the nicest examples I have seen. All of Wang Mang's spades were very well cast and are of very high quality. This particular specimen is uncirculated.

5. Fake. This one is in my collection, and I bought it from Frank Robinson as a fake. The obverse is very well done as the characters are about as sharp as I would expect. The rims are too sharp, especially the topmost rim. I could almost cut a piece of paper with it. The gap in the saggital line is a bad sign. In the reverse, the saggital line is much thicker, and the rims lack the clarity seen on the obverse. I agree with Frank Robinson that this coin is fake.