Jump to content
CoinPeople.com

Hong Kong 1923 1 cent over China 10 cash?


gxseries

Recommended Posts

This is a coin that I paid quite high but thought this looks quite unusual.

 

1008508.jpg

 

In between the letter "Hong" Kong and "One" cent, you can see the letter "ten" which looks like a cross.

 

This exists on the a former Chinese 10 cash coin struck in 1905, 1906.

 

958196.jpg

 

I am not aware of such coins overstruck on 10 cash coin - were these struck in China or in the UK? Got a feeling that it could be a contempory counterfeit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The strike is really soft on that one.

 

When did the empire 10 cash coins were demonetized in China (or at least in Guangdong)? I think maybe it was an attempt by someone to transform obsolete coins (the "dragon" 10 cash) into currency (the HK cent), in this case one should sould be able to purchase the "coin planchets" at a steep discount, all you need was to fabricate the dies to have a profit...

 

Jose

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think the dragon / imperial coinage was ever demonetized - but rather, it disappeared from circulation over time. The copper coinage of China of the time was a sort of "bullion" coinage in that its value relative to silver was not fixed.

 

A silver dollar (.890 fine) could be equal to perhaps about $1.20 in minor (10c/20c) silver coins of which Imperial issues were .800, and Republican KT/GD 20c issues were notable for being of questionable fineness (I usually assume .500-.700 would be the norm).

 

It was not unusual for standard coppers [10 cash] to trade at over 200 to the silver dollar in Shanghai.

 

HK of course also had a silver-based currency, but the minor coinage was fiat: 100 bronze cents or 10 (.800) silver dimes both were equal to and freely exchangeable for a (.900) British trade dollar.

 

As such, using fake dies to convert Chinese cents / 10 cash into HK cents would result in a nominal profit of over 100% prior to accounting for labour and expense of making the dies.

 

As for fake HK coins, I've yet to see a copper one thus far (that was identifiable as such). I have encountered a fake Victorian 10c (silverplated brass), Edwardian 10c (appears silver but font on English legends incorrect), and 1960 $1 (lead).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...