Greetings! I came across two Chinese silver coins in very good condition, too good to be true, . Are these real? Thanks.
It looks like it's some type of sample as one of your pics says on the coin, "circulation no". Take a look at Wiki!! There were many fakes made of this coin. Oh and welcome to the forum!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_yuan
According to this link, the first coin is a fantasy coin. The second coin is either a reproduction from this set of the "Ten Most Valuable Silver Coins of China", or it is a fantasy issue based on one of the coins (bottom row, second from left) of this set. The images are not clear enough to make a determination. Regarding the second coin, the "real" coin is surrounded by "Silver Pattern Coin" and "Prohibited to Circulate" written in both proper Chinese and not-so-proper English to indicate that it is, in fact, a copy. Gary
Thing is, if they are genuine, they would be insane mules - first coin shows a dragon that says "kwang-shu" which I believe is not a province, muled with Fujian dies. Next one is Szechuen muled with Jilin. Also, let us know if they are magnetic or not. Chances are, they aren't struck in silver. Real Chinese crown size coin WILL cost you a fair bit of money. Let me know you can find those dragon dollar coins without chopmarks and damage for under 100USD. Genuine of course. I can't do it.
Here's my copy! And here's a copy of my other Chino coin. I bought these as copies for really cheap as anyone can, but you may not find any this obvious!!
A nice and huge silver coin should look something like this: A lot smoother instead of coins struck with counterfeit dies.
I agree, part of the deluge of fakes coming in right now. I could go over a couple of diagnostics or tell you to weigh it, but there are more experienced collectors of these here already posting. At this point I am hesitant to buy any of these anymore. I will if I can see it in hand or have delat with the dealer before, but that is it. There are much better fakes than these out there right now.
GX, that's one mighty fine looking coin you have there. Absolutely love the single chop mark. One or two chop marks add interesting character and/or provenance to a coin. Too many, and the coin's value is greatly diminished. Yours is just right. Good on you!!!
