China coins need help to determine value

CoinHobby

Hi, I am new to the forum. I have been reading the messages for quite a while and finally decided to join the forum. I happened to inherit some coins from my grand mother-in-law recently but have no clue whether they worth anything. Any help to provide some insight and value to the coins will be much appreciated.

olmanjon

Welcome to the forum. I don't know enough about Chinese coins to tell if these are real or not. There are apparently a lot of fakes out there. Your's appear to be in a very nice condition if they are real. From the photos-xf to unc. From what I could find in my catalogs they would be over $100 each. I am sure that other members of our forum with expertise in Chinese coins will chime in and tell you the real facts.
Olmanjon

tbirde56

Since they all look 'fresh' with little wear I'd say they are likely all fakes.
Counterfeits mass produced in East Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe abound of Chinese and U.S. coins, and many other countries'. 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. Weighing them may be the best telltale of genuinity. Genuine Chinese and Japanese dollar-sized coins of this period weigh 26.4 to 27.5 grams each.
Chinese counterfeit factory: http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/Chinese-Counterfeiting-Ring/Chinese-Fake-Coin-Minting.htm
You might also try a library for a copy of the Standard Catalog of World Coins for pictures, value estimates and lots more interesting info.
Brad

CoinHobby

Thanks olmanjon and tbirde56 for your advise on how to defferentiate between a genuine and fake coin. I am going to purchase a small weighing machine to weigh the coins. Once done, I will post my findings. If there are any other ways to determine whether a coin is genuine, appreciate if anyone can share.

ColinCMR

it's only a matter of time before counterfeiters start ensuring masses are equal too

historically it was a bit more difficult to get the weights exact enough, but today it wouldnt even take an engineer to get it done

a digi scale is definitely one tool that can be useful, but it's just one technique

sumnom

Is it possible to post higher quality images? We might be able to help you more. I do suspect that they are counterfeit but it is a little hard to know from the images you have provided.

laurentyvan

It's always helpful to hear that Chinese coins in question were from several generations back-implies authenticity.

Nowadays I wouldn't tempt fate by buying any "old" coin from any Chinese seller,
which is a shame, as I'm sure some have the real thing and can't get anywhere.

MR168

Coin #3 is not Chinese. It's a Japanese coin.

DorkGirl

satootoko

<< <i>Coin #3 is not Chinese. It's a Japanese coin. >>

Specifically, a not-so-accurate copy of Japan's very first silver yen, dated Meiji 3 (1870).

The reverse (right side picture) is upside down, and to be correctly oriented, the obverse needs to be rotated clockwise 90 degrees.

A genuine one would weigh 26.96g. and have a diameter of 38.58mm.

Among other calligraphy errors, there should be somewhat less curvature in the lines of the character for "san" (three) in the date. (That's the three horizontal lines at 7:30 in the photo.)

I would need a much higher resolution photo to examine the old-style character for yen (at the 11:00 position). Under the highest magnification I can get without pixelization it doesn't appear to match any of the three known varieties found on genuine coins.

I'm very suspicious about the others, especially the last one which is a highly counterfeited early Republic coin.

CoinHobby

Hi satootoko, I took some quick measurement with a ruler on the diameter and the reading is about 39mm. Of course a normal ruler is not able to provide me better accuracy. I also took a close picture of the "san". Pls see attached photo.


Regarding laurentyvan question on the originality of the above coins, it is definitely not bought from any dealer. In fact, these coins (total of about 60 of them with 14 different types) were given to me last month by my 70 years old father-in-law. I was told that these coins were brought by my grandmother-in-law from China in the early 1900s to Singapore and given to my father-in-law later.

I am in the process of buying a small weighing scale, which I will be able to share the weight of the coins by then. Any suggestion of the accuracy of the weighing scale ? Is 0.1 g accuracy good enough ?

Appreciate all the forumers for all your advise and comments.

satootoko

<< <i>Hi satootoko, I took some quick measurement with a ruler on the diameter and the reading is about 39mm. >>

Close may or may not be correct. Chinese replicas are usually closer on the diameter than the weight, simply because it's an easier dimension to match.



<< <i>I also took a close picture of the "san". Pls see attached photo. >>



I am still seeing subtle, but definite, differences in the calligraphy between the image in the Japanese Numismatic Dealers Association catalog (which is a far superior image to the one in Krause), and yours.



<< <i>Any suggestion of the accuracy of the weighing scale ? Is 0.1 g accuracy good enough ? >>

A scale with milligram accuracy would be best, but at least .01g is really needed. Your coin should weigh 26.96g

How about posting a closeup of the "yen" character?

CoinHobby

Finally I managed to borrow a weighing scale with 0.01 accuracy. Hopefully it is calibrated. Here are the weight for the 6 coins posted earlier :
Coin#1 : 28.34g
Coin#2 : 30.50g
Coin#3 : 28.50g
Coin#4 : 29.89g
Coin#5 : 31.35g
Coin#6 : 30.41g

Hope someone could help to do a quick verification of the weights.

Thanks