Expert: Brad Swain - 3/18/2010

Question
Hi Brad i have a large [4cm] silver in colour coin, on 1 side there is a bust of a large oriental looking man with a bald head and moustach in uniform he has 4 stars on a shoulder badge, above him there are 7 what look like chineese caractures [writing]. on reverse side there is 2 large chineese caractures down the centre and 2 tree branches either side. would like to know where its from what time period and value, if you could help. kindest regards Paul

Answer
Hi Paul, It sounds like a Chinese dollar featuring General Yuan Shih-kai and issued 1919-21. This coin should weigh 26.4 grams and would contain .7554 of an ounce of silver. Weighing it may be the best telltale of its genuineness. If genuine it would be worth about $13+ depending on amount of wear and collector demand.
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 that will make the coin interesting enough to sell as a souvenir or conversation piece 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.
Chinese counterfeit factory: http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/Chinese-Counterfeiting-Ring/Chinese-Fake... .
Brad