Are these Antique Chinese Coins The REAL DEAL?

[theunpackedrat]

Found this book in a storage locker that was filled with collectible coins. The book is very old and contains all of the coins. There is also some paper money tucked away in the front. Are these coins from the actual time era that is stated in the book? Any help is much appreciated.

[daveroo]

Depends upon who's selling them.

If the seller is from China then I would ignore it.

From US sellers ... well, maybe.

[theunpackedrat]

I recieved them from a storage locker auction here in california.

[n.s.sherlock]

The part in English makes no claim that the coins are genuine.  It only tells you you are getting "rare materials".  It says amateurs will want to "keep, appreciate, and study" them. 

Thus, "reading between the lines" and relying on the fact that old Chinese coins are very frequently counterfeited, and have been for hundreds of years, I'd speculate that this is a tourist souvenier of some kind.

[*smedley*]

i don't know much about Chinese cash coins, but i do know that they aren't dated... there's no way to precisely date them as that booklet shows... take from what what you will...

[vietcoinscollection]

The ones that look like pants are fake. 

The early coins could be genuine since they are very common coins. 

The coins without holes look fake. 

The coins with 4 characters are all common coins but some may be fake, the images are too indistinct to tell. 

From experience, these sets will have fakes, partly because they will print a bunch of booklets and then run out of coins for specific places in the book then improvise by inserting a fake coin or coin from a different era.

[elheron-grande]

Unpackedrat: your post of Cinco de Mayo 2014 at 1218 hrs:  The paper money appears to be genuine.  el Heron

has 43 plus years dealing in paper money.   Including many Chinese 'notes'. [That is no 'guarantee' of course, not

being able to see the paper money in person].  The coins & other 'money objects'

could be a 'mix' of genuine and fakes. Being photographed under a plastic material makes it difficult to see all

details of the coins and other items.  There are some folks in asia that can create a 'patina' on a brass or

copper or bronze coin and make it appear as genuine.   The paper money

items shown are most likely considered to be quite plentiful. 

xx

[khl889]

Certainly not "very old." With that binding and such, this probably dates to the early 1980s or so.

Nonetheless, the increased interest in collecting old stuff in China in the past 20 years has made some things that were relatively common in the 80s relatively pricey today. There's no substitute for going through it piece-by-piece to see if there's anything of serious value by today's standards.

[darrellschweitzer_pa]

I have seen fake coins of the Qian Long emperor (Ch'ien Lung if you use the Wade-Giles system), one of the commonest of all Chinese coins, so you should be aware that the Chinese can and will fake anything. Neverthless there are five or six honest Chinese dealers on eBay.  The easiest rule of thumb is that a genuine specimen of a knife or spade coin (spade coins are the ones that look like pants) should cost at least about $30. (A reasonable price for a mediocre specimen of the commonest "ming knife.") If it works out that someone is trying to sell you knife or spade coins for a dollar or two, reject not just the coin, but the seller's entire stock. This is the KISS OF DEATH when dealing with Asian antiquities. Also view coins with suspicion of coins from many dynasties over thousands of years are 1) perfectly round and 2) ALL THE SAME COLOR. A coin from the Warring States (300s BC)  and one from the late Ming Dynasty (17th century AD) could NOT have come from the same hoard, and are not made of the same sort of metal anyway.

I can't really tell from your photos, but the "ant-nose" coin, the one that is oblong and has an inscription that looks a little like an owl, does not look genuine to me.

If you're willing to test a coin to destruction, take one of the commoner ones and brush it a little. Does the "encrustation" come off quickly and easily? Is the metal smooth underneath? Does the resultant dust leave you gagging because it smells like glue? The reason for that is that it IS a mixture of glue and sand, spraypainted on. 

Another general method nof telling if a coin is genuinely old is to look at a smooth, unencrusted area under magnification. No matter how nice it is, if it is a thousand years old, base metal (bronze or copper) should show micro-pitting, lots of tiny little craters. For comparison, then look at a new coin under the same magnification and note how smooth it is at that level.

[too_toot]

---

@darrellschweitzer_pa wrote:

I have seen fake coins of the Qian Long emperor (Ch'ien Lung if you use the Wade-Giles system), one of the commonest of all Chinese coins, so you should be aware that the Chinese can and will fake anything. Neverthless there are five or six honest Chinese dealers on eBay.  The easiest rule of thumb is that a genuine specimen of a knife or spade coin (spade coins are the ones that look like pants) should cost at least about $30. (A reasonable price for a mediocre specimen of the commonest "ming knife.") If it works out that someone is trying to sell you knife or spade coins for a dollar or two, reject not just the coin, but the seller's entire stock. This is the KISS OF DEATH when dealing with Asian antiquities. Also view coins with suspicion of coins from many dynasties over thousands of years are 1) perfectly round and 2) ALL THE SAME COLOR. A coin from the Warring States (300s BC)  and one from the late Ming Dynasty (17th century AD) could NOT have come from the same hoard, and are not made of the same sort of metal anyway.

I can't really tell from your photos, but the "ant-nose" coin, the one that is oblong and has an inscription that looks a little like an owl, does not look genuine to me.

If you're willing to test a coin to destruction, take one of the commoner ones and brush it a little. Does the "encrustation" come off quickly and easily? Is the metal smooth underneath? Does the resultant dust leave you gagging because it smells like glue? The reason for that is that it IS a mixture of glue and sand, spraypainted on. 

Another general method nof telling if a coin is genuinely old is to look at a smooth, unencrusted area under magnification. No matter how nice it is, if it is a thousand years old, base metal (bronze or copper) should show micro-pitting, lots of tiny little craters. For comparison, then look at a new coin under the same magnification and note how smooth it is at that level.

---

Excellent advice.

One undisclosed dud usually indicates problemmatic other items - where there's smoke there's usually fire.

[henriksendevries]

I  recently bought hese ones. Could anyone give an opinion on their autheticity please.

Thanks in advance

[agathetyche]

Always wonder how a three year old post gets resurrected.

Anyway, to your coins:

Probably 95% of the Chinese spade coins on the market today are fakes. I have no specific info on them. but one thing I have noticed is that many of them have similar patinas consisting of mud, rust and soft powdery green deposits, all effects that can be produced with simple chemicals and burial in the ground for a few months. 

Many reputable dealers in early Chinese coins won't accept any piece that doesn't have a solid pedigree before 1970. 

[ted_200]

Always wonder how a three year old post gets resurrected.

It's eBay's fault (maybe Lithium...).  Anyhow, they encourage users to "search" rather than post a new topic.  When the search returns something related to their question, they post the question there.  This problem has been plaguing the Selling Board for months, but it doesn't happen often here since most people will never even be able to find this board to begin with.