gxseries Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 This is a coin that I paid quite high but thought this looks quite unusual. 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. 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccg Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 I believe that HK hasn't struck its own coins after the first 1860s issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art1.2 Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 That's a very interesting fine. I'd be in favor of the overstrike vs. counterfeit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josemartins Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccg Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 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). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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