Chinese 1904 Dollar, real or fake?

jfriedm56

Was wondering if this is real or not. See what you think.

JoesMaName

I'm no expert in Chinese coinage but if I saw this on eBay I'd think: The picture quality is poor - the surface looks cast - I'd skew towards fake.

Greenstang

Looks counterfeit to me plus since when does silver corroded like that.

jfriedm56

@JoesMaName and @Greenstang, I certainly agree with you about how it looks. First thing I noticed was a kind of corrosion on the surface. I would think it’s a cast counterfeit. I’m at about 99% fake. The only thing is when spun on the table, it has that ping of silver. Not a dull thud. And it’s been in a friend’s father’s basement for 80 years. I’m responsible for the bad pictures haha

jfriedm56

Could this have been salvaged from salt water accounting for the uneven surfaces?

Sapyx

Saltwater damage to silver coins tends to be much more uneven - because it's not usually the water itself that damages the coins, but barnacles, coral and other sea life. It's also not the silver as such that corrodes, but the copper or other elements alloyed with the silver.

You might get corrosion like this from the water directly after a few hundred years - but this coin is not a few hundred years old, and if your story about being in a basement for 80 years is correct, it cannot have been underwater for more than a decade or two before being recovered.

Sergey74

It looks like the old cast, fake money. I think it was silvering. And if you think that the thing is silver you can use the iodine or something another to test it.