I recently bought a couple of large Ching coins, one 50 cash and one 30 cash. The 50 cash is, I am fairly sure, a fake. The 30 cash coin is more convincing - see the attached scan. It is a Hsien-Feng Chung-Pao ,32.3mm diameter, 13.0g. What do you think? is it real?
It is very difficult to discern the fakes from the originals when they were both made the same manner, ie casting. The main difference comes in wear and ageing, but lately the "coining specialists" in China have gotten pretty good at ageing these "cash" coins. When I was there, I never bought them unless I knew for a fact that they were common, and priced inexpensively. Curiously when you found obvious fakes, the prices were higher and sellers were inflexible on negotiating prices. It was as though they were trying to convince you of the coins authenticity by standing firm on price. You should see the warning signs when people there are inflexible on haggling a price. I tended to find that haggling on price was the way to go, and always drive a hard bargain and use the walk away as a tool.
Fake. Calligraphy is sloppy and does not match the pictures in KM or Hartill. Also undersized, should be ~36mm.
