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Question
My friend just picked these up at a flea market in Taijin, China. I don't know anything about Chinese money. I've run every test for silver except the acid test. They seem to pass for color and "sound" and I have scoped them with a 10x lens...no untoward markings or signs of plating. So they look OK as far as silver goes, but China being China....
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I am concerned about the spelling "HE-PEH" on the tael.
Also cannot identify the mint mark on the last bronze coin. Can you offer any insight? She only paid $8.00 USD for these. Thank you in advance.
Hi Stephanie,
The general rule is... when one item from a dealer is counterfeit, you can be confident that they all are. Unfortunately this is the case here. Luckily the $8 price is somewhat fair, considering that many dealers try to pass them off as the real thing. In this case, the genuine items would sell for a few thousand dollars.
All of these are modern and were made by a process called sand-casting, where the molten metal is poured into a mold made from a mixture of sand and intermediary substances such as silica. For this reason, you have that dull gray look. Upon close inspection you may also notice rough areas on the surface, due to bubbles that formed and popped on the surface during the cooling process.
Moreover, the second two coins are very crude, and actually do not have an exact genuine counterpart. The basic design is similar to an actual Chinese coin, but the counterfeiter seems to have filled in some blanks with their own imagination.
The "HE-PEH" coin leads me to think that these may be Southeast Asian, rather than Chinese counterfeits. Mis-spellings like this are indicative of someone not being fluent in the language.
It's a safe bet that these came from the area of Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, or even as far east as Malaysia and Indonesia.
The best way to be sure is to weigh them on a jeweler's scale. If a coin is the same exact diameter, thickness and weight as the reference characteristics, it's a sure thing. Because of metal density it's nearly impossible to preserve the dimensions while altering the materials.
Thanks for the question! =)
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Answers by Expert:
Dmitry Livshits
Expertise
My specialty is world coins from the 18th to 20th centuries, primarily non-US foreign coins and related areas such as errors and exonumia (tokens, medals, etc.). I can answer questions relating to identification, grading, selling, preservation and evaluation of such items. In addition to catalog value, I can give you the practical market value and trends for specific types of coins. I will also take questions regarding counterfeits (both modern and antique) and on how to identify them. I am NOT knowledgeable in paper money/banknotes, ancient or "shipwreck" coins. Thank you.
Experience
Collector of world coins since early childhood. Access to a variety of auction records and reference material. You can also find me on Facebook.
Education/Credentials
A.S. in Psychology (2006), B.A. in Forensic Psychology (2008), M.A. in Forensic Psychology (2011).
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