Several readers have come across such Yuan Shih Kai dollars with bats or rosettes. I would say that these types may have different origins.

The five bats fantasy coin is likely to have originated as a charm, or novelty “lucky” item. The Yuan Shih Kai dollar is a very famous coin in China, affectuouly called “袁大头”, and adding the five bats (五蝠／五福 wordplay) motif on a replica makes it similar to horseshoes or four leaf clover themed items sold in the West. It was therefore probably sold for a cheap price to Chinese and tourists alike, without the direct intent to deceive collectors, since this particular pattern would never be added on genuine, government-issued coins.

The replica with a rosette is another thing entirely. The only reason to add this is to lure beginners into thinking they found some rare variety and disregard other red flags raised by the fake coin. This version is a deliberate attempt to deceive collectors, like the fake Peiyang warlord variety discussed here: http://www.dragondollar.com/coins/chinese-coins-2/fake-chihli-dollar/ – this is also why this version has a somewhat acceptable weight, compared to the “Five bats” version which is typically severely underweight at around 20 grams.

The standard diameter for YSK dollars must be 38mm and weight 26.4 grams.

The material used for making fake coins varies a lot, for bad iron based alloys (which are magnetic) to “white copper”, tin… Most of the fake coins are underweight. Some fake coins are actually made from silver, using high quality dies. It is then often quite difficult to tell them apart from real coins without a lot of experience.

And I have some questions to the counterfeit coins of Yuan Shi Kai coins:
- what material are they made of?
- if it contents iron it should be easily identified whit a magnetic test-isn’t it?
Bernhard S.