This coin was sold to me as "Republic of China", which I thought meant Taiwan but apparently probably means pre-Communist China (e.g. Sun Yat Sen). Dihua 1 silver dollar. Anybody know when and where this coin could have been minted? I guess I need to go ahead and buy the Standard Catalog for the 20th Century. Any help will be welcome. The combination of Chinese characters and Arabic script may point to Xinjiang?
The Chinese written along the top is, from right to left, di hua yin yuan ju zao which translates as "made at the Dihua Silver Dollar (yuan) Bureau". The two Chinese characters in the middle are, from top to bottom, yi liang which is the denomination "one liang". The Chinese written along the bottom is, from left to right and upside down, zhong hua min guo liu nian which means "Republic of China year 6". You made a good guess. Dihua is the old name for Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. The 6th year of the Republic of China would be the year 1917. I hope you find the translation helpful. Unfortunately, I do not collect "modern" Chinese coins so I do not have any additional information concerning the coin and am unable to offer any opinion as to authenticity. Gary
Sinkiang Province, 1 Sar(Tael) KM#45. I hope I'm wrong, but this does not look real to me. What's the weight?
26,6 g, 40 mm. Seller says 50% silver. I'd be interested what makes you think this coin is fake (other than a general suspicion of Chinese coins evinced in other threads). Do you have any concrete criteria? The coin is in good shape, but obviously used.
It has the look/color typical of chinese fakes. Strong rims, weak detail on outer edge. Calligraphy is off from the one pictured in KM. Dot(casting bubble?) near the center of top pic. Weight should be 35.0g
OK, useful info. Fortunately I didn't pay a lot for the coin. Anybody know why fakes should display "strong rims, weak detail on outer edge"? Is this due to the faking process? Is it hard to do strong detail on the outer edge? Would not the same apply to genuine coins of the period? As far as luster is concerned, not many non-proof used coins display luster, or am I misunderstanding something?
