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Message:: [QUOTE="kvasir, post: 84277, member: 4139"]I was just looking up my Chinese Almanac for some info on another Chinese coin identification on another post and I remmember about this post. I can tell you there is almost nothing from the inscription alone that says the 10 mil coin is a counterfeit unless i can see one of the inscription upclose. The inscriptions on both sides match. Kiang-nan and ( 江南省造 ) both indicate the same origin. The key is on the date, and I have to see it upclose. The wear on the character may be just enough to disable the possibility to authenticate. The year is either indicated by the characters 乙巳 or 乙己 (note the second character can be a legitimate character either closed or open). If it's 乙己, it would immediately prove your coin as counterfeit, since no such year exists. If it's "乙巳", it would put the coin at 1905 in the 31st year of the GuangXu Era ( 光緒 ) just as your dealer said. "乙巳" is the lunar year cycle which repeats every 60 years. it could be 1845, 1905, 1965 etc. But given the Era inscription, one can be sure this would be 1905 if the coin is genuine. "巳" indicates that it's the Year of the Snake btw.[/QUOTE]