Expert: Brad Swain - 1/3/2010

Question
I have several Chinese coins.After reading your inportant information & doing a little research,is there any one method I can use to detect a counterfeit coin?

Answer
Hi Chuck, Weighing it may be the best telltale of its genuineness.
Genuine Chinese silver dollar coins of this period weigh 26.4 to 27.5 grams each.
If you have pictures (not over 1 megabyte each please) you can email them to me at tbirde@psknet.com.

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'.
A 'fantasy' piece is when someone creates or hijacks an official design and changes it to suit whatever purpose they imagine will make the coin interesting enough to sell to someone who is unfamiliar with the genuine pieces.
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.
Fakes: http://reviews.ebay.com/Fake-8-4-and-2-Reales-coins-from-ASIA-BEWARE_W0QQugidZ10...
Chinese counterfeit factory: http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/Chinese-Counterfeiting-Ring/Chinese-Fake... .
Brad