I recently found a beautiful, slightly toned Yuan Shi Kai republican dollar while hunting for rare chinese coins. Looking more closely, one can see the signature of the engraver L. Giorgi on the coin. Specimen with signatures are very rare, and such a coin is easily worth between $4000 and $8000 USD.

Here is the coin:

Fake Yuan Shi Kai Dollar

Fake Yuan Shi Kai Dollar (obverse)

It looks great, but I soon started to have doubts about its authenticity when I got it out of its protective case: the reeded edge felt a bit too rough and shallow. Knowing that this pattern coin is very rare, I also knew the odds I found a forgery were pretty high. I therefore looked closely at the portrait and a picture of a real coin sold in a reputable auction to find if there was some visible differences.

Here is a genuine Yuan Shi Kai commemorative dollar (Kann 642a), can you spot the difference?

Genuine Yuan Shi Kai Dollar

Genuine Yuan Shi Kai Dollar

If you look closely at the signature of the engraver “L. Giorgi” on both coins, you will find that it is very well imitated, but slightly off on the fake coin. On the real one, the signature is over the 5th bead on the edge, while on the fake, it is over the 4th bead. See below:

Fake L. Giorgi signature

Fake L. Giorgi signature

Aside of this detail, the forgery was very convincing. The portrait did not show any significant difference. After a bit more research, I also found that the engraver’s signature on a contemporary Yuan Shi Kai pattern coin, the so-called 飞龙, is actually over the 4th bead. Could this coin be a mule, or a die variation?

After finding this out, I went to the Madian coin market to seek the advice of a professional coin dealer. At the first sight, he thought the coin was real. When I wanted to sell it, he went to show it to a colleague and then came back, saying it was fake. Interestingly enough, it was not the signature position that raised a red flag to them, but the relief of the coin. The real one is totally flat around the Yuan Shi Kai portrait, while on mine both sides of the portrait are not exactly of the same depth. This can only be seen by slowly inclining the coin in front of a light source.