Hello All. I bought a 13 coins lot and, between them, this coin. I don't know much about it, but there is something very weird with her. There are some letters struck under the surface that are overpolished but still appear. But, what I see are inverted letters. The coin wheight is 25.8g and the diameter is 38.5mm. I think this coin was another before. Could someone give me some information about this coin? Thanks in advance.
please understand that a vast majority of raw chinese coins could be fakes and the Chinese can make fakes using real silver and make it look like the real thing. Stick with slabbed ones or take a change with NGC or PCGS and don't be surprised if its comes back as counterfeit.
Yes, I understand what you said @Mkman123. But this makes me feel so bad. What a world. How can I be secure? Even purchasing a certified coin by NGC or PCGS? See more these coins. All can be fake too.
In this case, I purchased for help a friend (is a long story). In that case (5 francs) I had purchased for only $8, and simply did not think.
yikes and the ones you posted all look fake too. Remember, Chinese coins are hot right now and worth a lot of money. Its worthwhile for counterfeiters to make them and deceive people. Stick with NGC/PCGS,ANACS, ICG, your chances are far better
I agree, but my friend have purchase these and other coins he already sold (between them 212 Morgan Dollars that he sold recently for an insignificant price) when he travelled to Europe twelve years ago.
When I opened this thread I already knew these coins could be fakes. I told to him and he did not believe. (He is 63 years old and had a heart attack recently). He really believe that these coins are real, because purchased from an old coin collector in Europe (I don't know who and don't know where). I purchased these 13 coins (some of them i did not post) because I'd very interested in only four. One Indian "MAURYAN EMPIRE 322-185 B.C.", two Roman coins "Roman Republic 85BC Rome Ancient Silver Coin VEJOVIS" and another I could not determine era and date yet, and one Greek "Agathokles-AR-Tetradrachm" which I think is "what a coin".
tell your friend that counterfeits have been made for a very long time and dont be deceived by the whole "I bought them from a old long time collector, etc". Common scammer language. I caught a ebayer selling a fake thai coin and showed him why its fake. He said "my dad or whatever got it a long time ago". He then proceeded to sell the coin so whoever owns it now has a expensive fake! Also remember the adage if its too good to be true.......
I just to buy a lot of Chinese silver coins on eBay back in the day, one was able to get quite a bit for almost no money and most were genuine, in all of my days I only bought a single fake silver piece through eBay (and I knew it was fake! I just bought it as it was a replica of my favorite Xuantong era silver coin), nowadays these fakes are the norm with fantasies popping up left and right, it's so bad that I don't trust anything Chinese in general, I remember while I was in Chinatown (New York City) a couple of decades ago how fake Republic of China silver dollars (and many of them fantasies) were being sold at every street corner, often people proclaiming them to be real causing me to automatically distrust anything I would buy in that neighbourhood. The thing is, unless you're buying silver coins from reputable auctions, reputable sellers, and/or Taiwanese shops you can be 99.9% certain that you're buying a fake. I know that on the internet Bob Reis (Anything Anywhere) and Scott Semans (CoinCoin.com) are trustworthy sellers of these but as I live outside of the United States of America their shipping costs and policies don't suit me very well. 7 Mace and 2 Candareens (1 Dollar, as in 1 Mexican Peso) pieces are universally the most likely to be faked and honestly unless it's a single item I would never trust them.
Generally speaking buying coins from "old collectors" does usually mean that the chances of encountering a real coin is higher, however fake Chinese silver Dollars have been around as long as those coins themselves, were the rest of the lot genuine?
I have purchased from both over the years. From Scott Semans pre internet days via mail and Bob Reis within the last month. I would recommend both. Is Scott Semans still in business?
"Coin Quest. Chinese Peking Mint Dragon Coin Reproduction (Counterfeit) 1900. These are exiting times for Chinese numismatics (coin collecting). All sorts of rare and exotic coins surface continually, sparking interest in avid collectors worldwide. The bad news, however, is that government-sponsored, or at least government encouraged crooks, thieves, and shysters flood the market every day with counterfeits, replicas and fantasy pieces, clouding all numismatic waters. It is just a wild guess on my part, but I'd venture that more than half of the Chinese coins you see today are fakes. An honest collector swims in a soupy mix of darkness and light. Beware. - Reputable web site 'DragonDollar' has a few choice words on Peking coins and the fact that they are basically all fakes."
