Expert: Brad Swain - 12/2/2009

Question
Hi Brad, I have a chinese dollar, I hope it's real, it looks and sounds real. hupeh province 1909-11. I think its Y#131
The problem is it reads he-peh instead of hu-peh.
Could some of these dollars been made with he-peh ?
Thank You,.. Mike

Answer
Hi Mike, Counterfeits and fantasy pieces mass produced in East Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe abound of Chinese and U.S. coins, and many other countries'. Fakes Chinese dollars outnumber real coins 10 to 1 if not by much more.
The typo is a nearly sure sign that it is a fake. The English language is as different to some Chinese counterfeiters as Chinese may be to us. They just try to copy what they've seen without regard to what may be an obvious error to us.
Most older counterfeits weigh up light, are grayish, may have a weakly struck look to appear worn, look cleaned or antiqued and may have a dull or grainy surface or have typographical errors. Newer ones show that the counterfeiters are refining their skills and obtaining planchets of the right weight to produce passable counterfeits.
Weighing it may be the best telltale of its genuineness.
Genuine Chinese silver dollar coins of this design should weigh 27.0 grams each and contain .7814 of an ounce of silver.  
Chinese counterfeit factory: http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/Chinese-Counterfeiting-Ring/Chinese-Fake... .
Brad