This is another mystery coin for me. 5.4g and maybe associated with the North Shensi Soviet Republic. Edge is reeded and coin looks silver but really no idea on this one. Any help is appreciated. thanks.
It is very similar to this from on Numista, from the Hupeh-Honon-Anhwei Soviet in China. 1 Yuan - Hupeh-Honan-Anhwei Soviet – Numista, Judging from the size, yours is a smaller denomination. I could not find an exact match either on Numista nor in my 27th edition of Krause.
I'm no expert, but I thought these early Chinese Communist (pre-1949) coins are pretty scarce and widely counterfeited. I would assume it's a replica/fantasy unless you have some reason to believe otherwise. Most of my early 20th Century Chinese silver minors are in pretty worn condition.
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if it was a replica/fantasy piece. Only new info is it did register as good for 90% silver.
I think the working assumption is that any coin from China, especially rare or unlisted, must be presumed counterfeit unless proven otherwise.
That may well be. But are the 1 Yuan coins on the Numista site given above, as well as the example in my 27th edition of Krause, p. 416, all fantasy coins? They have the same Cyrillic letters. Is it possible they appear gibberish because they are Cyrillic letters used to spell a local dialect? I'm no expert, so I don't know. Just wondering.
From an auction of a (genuine) coin from that series: 'The obverse design displays a few truly exceptional trademarks; the first is bilingual legends and inscriptions. The lower inscription is a highly debased Cyrillic which is intended to read: “Soviet Chinese Republic”.' So the fact that it's gibberish doesn't count against it much. But being from a rare and hard-to-obtain series from an era important to the PRC's history and political identity makes a modern fake far more likely than a genuine coin.
It scanned on the Sigma machine at the coin store as 90% silver. Not saying it’s not fake, but it’s not pot metal and it’s not cast, it’s a struck piece.
