Lately we have been getting many inquiries with attached scans of Chinese dragon dollars and taels asking for our opinions as to whether they are genuine or not. So far the fakes are batting 100% and possible genuine pieces zero. While carefully looking at these scans I look for the obvious at first which is imperfections in the denticles around the rim and the dot pattern of the inner circle on the obverse. On genuine pieces these are usually almost perfect. The on-line auctions are currently loaded with various offerings of such material from the mainland. Several years ago I won a few lots which included some fakes of rarities and some really bazaar fabrications.  My first response to these inquiries is to have them weigh their coin or coins. Most of the modern fakes will come in underweight  and are not struck in good silver . The standard weight for the 7 Mace 2 Candareens dragon dollar is 26.86 grams which happens to be 72 % of the Kuping Tael weight of 37.31 grams.



















For an example of a rather exotic dragon tael lets take a look at the silver fantasy Sinkiang Tael that I have listed as X # M345 in the current edition of "Unusual World Coins". Now my example is not struck in silver and being quite oversize at 45.2 mm and underweight at 31.7 grams. The edge does have rather uniform reeding. The misspelling of TAEL as "TEAL" is a definite give away to those whom are somewhat knowledgeable with Chinese coinage but perhaps not to a casual collector. No genuine coins are known to exist of this particular type during the reign of Emperor Kuang-hsü, 1875 - 1908.

















Now for a more unusual design for a Kirin Province Tael dated year 10 (1885) of Kuang-hsü I have again an oversize piece measuring 45 mm and very underweight at 30.53 grams. Similar genuine coins were actually struck in silver with this design but measure only 39 mm with a thickness of 3-1/4 mm but slightly underweight at 35.5 grams. The weight of the tael in China varied somewhat  to different standards but the Kuping Tael weight was used for most all dragon coinage. This fabrication is really a wonderful example of excellent workmanship. Skinny dragons facing each other are on the obverse. The edge lettering is really a classic and refers to the well known designer L. Georgi. The edge lettering reads: GIORGI L • GIORGI • GIORGI LNCI x (9 Chinese characters) • (7 Chinese characters) x



















A recent inquiry that I received from Charles Chalhoub located in Lebanon prompted me to post this subject and will provide a review of a false no date ( 1901 ) Szechuan dragon dollar. Starting off I had Chalhoub check the weight of this coin and at 26.86 grams we had a remote possibility of it being genuine so I had him send along scans at 300 dpi for a visual inspection. The four vertical Manchu characters at the center of the obverse are very deteriorated and the dots of the inner circle are very uneven and missing a dot at left and also one dot is missing at right. The denticles along the rim on both obverse and reverse vary from full to nonexistent. This is a very poor fabrication but will certainly plague the antique flea and numismatic markets for years to come.