Double dragons on a Hupeh 1904 silver “One Tael” coin with large characters on reverse

A reader from France recently sent me pictures of this Chinese silver coin with beautiful double dragons on the obverse. I was astonished: usually, this kind of coins is only seen in large auctions and I never had someone contacting me about a genuine one. Not only this coin was obviously genuine, but it was the better, very rare Large Characters variety:

China Hupeh 1904 silver one Tael Large Characters reverse details L&M-181 K-933b KM-Y-128.1

As you can see, on the Large Characters variety the manchu script at the center of the coin is connected to the surrounding Chinese characters in two different places. On the more common Small Characters variety, the characters don’t connect.

The 1904 Hupeh tael, whichever variety, is always a rare coin. It only circulated for one month before being scrapped, and only 648,000 were minted in the first place. It is impossible to know how many survived, but there is only 224 coins graded by PCGS to this day, of which only 25 with the “Large Characters” variety. On June 25, Heritage Auctions sold a perfect one for $360,000 USD in Hong Kong.

The strangest thing about my reader’s coin is the circulation wear:

China Hupeh 1904 silver one tael coin obverse detail L&M-181 K-933b KM-Y-128.1

China Hupeh 1904 silver one tael coin large characters reverse detail L&M-181 K-933b KM-Y-128.1

Most of the surviving 1904 Hupeh Tael are in high grade because they were thesaurized as high denomination coins and left untouched. It seems this one somehow escaped the Hupeh province and circulated elsewhere, likely for its weight in silver ?

PCGS certified this coin VF30: this is the lowest grade for this type, but a privilege to even hold it in one’s hand. Only two dozens are known to exist in the world right now, and it is a very rare pleasure indeed to help add one to the census !

In Winter 1932 the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, mostly composed of survivors of the Nanchang Uprising and armed peasants from the Hunan province, escaped Chiang Kai-Shek’s siege of the Hupeh/Honan/Anhwei revolutionary base and entered northern Sichuan across Mt. Bashan. By early 1933, the Red Army controlled a 15,000 square kilometers area centered around the cities of Bazhong, Guangyuan and Nanchong, populated by over one million souls.

A 92-year-old woman looks at “The Red Army enters Northern Sichuan”, a 1957 painting from LIU Guoshu

Eighty years later, I was sipping tea in Nanchong while listening to my friend YI Chuanbi – his pet iguana perched on his shoulder – telling me of an old man he knew who had a perfectly preserved Szechuan-Shensi Soviet dollar and (for the right price) would be amenable to sell. Chinese soviet dollars are the thing of legend: their rarity and historical significance caused them to be highly sought after by collectors very early on. A Chinese Soviet dollar in uncirculated condition was already worth 1,000 yuan in the early 1980s, when YI was selling Szechuan dragon dollars 8 yuan apiece to buy games for his video game arcade business. Since then those prices have risen 20,000%, a performance comparable to AAPL shares during the same period!

Soviet dollars are in a class apart from other Chinese coins: they are revolutionary relics, just like the stone-carved slogans that the Fourth Army left in the Szechuan province. For many older Sichuan men and women, they are a direct connection to the heady days of their youth.

Red Army stone-carved slogan: Make all of Sichuan red!

Fourth Red Army Veterans

The Szechuan-Shensi Soviet dollar was struck in 1934 with hand-crafted dies at the Red Army Mint built in the Wangcang county (旺苍县) of Guangyuan (广元市), and were as much an instrument of propaganda as an instrument of payment. That politically charged currency, stamped with the symbol of the hammer and sickle spreading all over China and surrounded by the famous rallying cry “proletariats of the world, unite!“, was obviously banned and very dangerous to own in the territories controlled by the KMT or the Sichuan clique. For use in enemy territory, the Red Army Mint issued counterfeit Szechuan Military Government dollars instead. These fake coins, made with great care but with the same crude techniques used to produce the Soviet dollars, are easily identified by their hand-carved security edge and the concentric grooves on their surfaces.

Szechuan Military Government 1912 silver dollar (Red Army version) (reverse)

Szechuan Military Government 1912 silver dollar (Red Army version) (obverse)

Szechuan-Shensi Soviet dollar (with concentric raised lines)

Most of these Red Szechuan Military dollars and Soviet coins were melted down into less dangerous shapes after the Fourth Army retreated in March 1935 to join the Long March and the nationalist forces regained control of the area. The few remaining coins were often kept hidden, either due to the risk they posed to their owners, or out of the old-fashioned concern that the fewer people know of your valuable possessions, the better!

This combination of high desirability and elusiveness created ideal conditions for modern counterfeiters. Until smartphones with good camera became ubiquitous in China, very few collectors had access to anything better than low resolution pictures of genuine Soviet dollars, and even fewer had the opportunity to examine one “hands-on”.

Even for collectors with deep pockets, it is therefore difficult to find a Soviet dollar both in excellent condition and with a respectable pedigree, made crucial by the large number of very high quality fake coins circulating on the market. You can now better imagine my excitation when YI Chuanbi first told me of this opportunity!

Szechuan-Shensi Soviet 1934 dollar (Kann 808 – Y-513 L&M 891) (obverse)

Szechuan-Shensi Soviet 1934 dollar (Kann 808 – Y-513 – L&M 891) (reverse) (graded AU55 by NGC)

In the end I did not succeed in buying that old man’s Soviet dollar in 2012, but after three years I finally managed to catch another one, pictured above. This Szechuan-Shensi Soviet dollar was circulated but is exceptionally well-preserved, with softly lustrous surfaces. More importantly, it has an unimpeachable pedigree: it is the plate coin for the “Crab pincer” variety (CSSB-Y2-4-02) in 《川陕革命根据地货币图录》, one of the most detailed books on the money of communist China.

It is a strange feeling to look at this heavy coin in the palm of my hand and think of the courageous men and women who carefully engraved dies and minted coins eighty years ago, doing their best despite the hardships and terrible conditions, with the hope of somehow contributing to change the world. Chinese Soviet dollars are truly a class apart.

Szechuan dollar Y-238 L&M-345 Doubled Die (obverse)

The Szechuan dollar my friend was considering to buy was a high grade sample of the rare “库 not connected” variety (四川光绪剑毛龙无头车). It had sharp details and was graded AU50 by NGC, however the coin had clearly been cleaned and my friend hoped for a discount.

Szechuen dollar – obverse

Szechuen dollar – reverse

I browsed past sales results when I was struck by the similitude between the coin my friend coveted and a Szechuen dollar sold at the Jiuzhou 2012 Summer Auction (九州2012夏季机制币、纸币拍卖专场). At first, I thought that the coin graded XF details by PCGS had been re-submitted to NGC in a bid for a more favorable grade, but I quickly verified that the coins’ obverse were distinct.

Jiuzhou 2012 Summer Auction – Szechuan dollar

While carefully examining the reverse, I was troubled to find an identical scratch below the right side rosette. Despite the low resolution of the pictures sent by my friend, it was obvious this ought to be a circulation mark. Two coins of the same type often exhibit wear or weak strike in the same place, but identical circulation marks should never be observed: it would indeed imply both coins were randomly damaged in the exact same fashion while being handled by countless men and women through a century!

Circulation marks comparison (reverse)

The scratches I highlighted on the picture above were damning evidences that both coins were very high level forgeries. The counterfeiters went to the trouble of striking different obverses, but were surprisingly lazy etching the same marks on the reverse. The replica is still stunning, and actually fooled two world-class grading agencies and the highly experienced Chinese coins collectors who bought them. It is especially troubling that without the inexplicable laziness of the counterfeiters, and a stroke of luck comparing pictures on the Internet, both fake coins would have most likely stayed undetected.

Once again, I will urge my dear readers to listen to their instinct when buying: if you are somehow hesitant about a deal, like my friend was, the best decision is often to walk away. It is also best to avoid buying cleaned or polished coins altogether, especially in high grade, as it is too convenient a camouflage for artificial aging.

Kiangnan Province Dragon with circlet-like scales, tongueless, long spines

Collecting is a demanding hobby; to stay ahead of increasingly deceptive forgeries, ingenious alterations or tooling, one needs to keep on learning the most intimate details of Chinese coins. It may sometimes be tempting to simply rely on the knowledge of others and buy a coin that is “out of our league” with a relative peace of mind. I would urge my readers to resist this temptation, though. Certificates from grading companies and the opinion of more experienced collectors should only help confirm your own judgement.

I recently bought a very rare and beautiful Chinese coin from a reputed Shanghai dealer. The Dragon dollar was in a PCGS holder, and the seller guaranteed that the coin had not been repaired or cleaned. The competition to buy this beautiful rarity was intense and I had all the reasons to buy with confidence, so I gave in to temptation:

Original post: Kiangnan Dragon with Circlet-like Scales (reverse)

Original post: Kiangnan Dragon with Circlet-like Scales (obverse)

The coin I coveted is a particularly interesting variety of the famous Kiangnan Pearl Scales Dragon (also known as Dragon with Circlet-like Scales). The dragon lost its tongue to weak strike, and has longer spines on its back and tail (江南戊戌珍珠龙长毛无舌版). Additionally, this particular specimen has a very special characteristic, that I had never seen before: the top of the 庫 character, probably due to a die chip, was perfectly rounded (圆头庫).

江南戊戌珍珠龙长毛无舌圆头库

When I received the coin and could carefully examine its surface, I started to experience this uneasy feeling familiar to collectors: the left brain knows something is amiss, while the right brain emotionaly defends the purchase. The coin was definitely genuine, but I could not help but think the toning and surfaces had some unnatural quality to them. Pushed by intuition, I started researching the pedigree of this coin online; something I should better have done before buying! When I came across the picture below, my unease only grew:

Original condition (Shanghai Chongyuan auctions)

At first glance, it seemed unlikely that both coins were the same; the dragon dollar sold at the Shanghai Chongyuan auctions was heavily chopmarked. Both coins had a similar feeling to them though, and poring over the pictures, my troubled gaze feverishly jumping from identical circulation marks to the same rim nicks, I was increasingly convinced that it was indeed my coin, before it had been skillfully altered by a devious craftsman. I highlighted the details of interest below:

Altered Kiangnan 1898 Circlet-like Scales Dragon

Reverse details

Obverse details

Carved right into the silver was the proof that the coin I bought was removed from its original GBCA holder, tooled with remarkable craftsmanship, artificially toned and successfully submitted to PCGS. Altering coins is a cardinal sin in numismatics: it is always done with the intention to deceive collectors and artificially inflate the value of a coin. I personally consider this practice tantamount to counterfeiting.

Circulation marks, nicks and scratches are the unique fingerprint of a coin. If on pictures two coins bear the same marks, there is only two possibility: either it is actually pictures of the same coin, or both are fake… As a more sinister example, please consider the picture below:

Two Fake Fengtien 1903 Dollars

These two high level fake 1903 Fengtien dollars were spotted by reader Remetalk, using the same method I identified my altered coin. The coin on the left was listed at the April 2012 Hong Kong Auction, lot 21167, and graded NGC VF-20. The coin on the right was seen at the August 2012 Moscow Wolmar auction VIP №299, lot 1260. I spotted an identical fake in Beijing, graded VF details by PCGS.

With Chinese counterfeiters getting increasingly skillful at deceiving collectors and even world-class grading companies, it is more than ever necessary for fellow Chinese coins collectors to keep their eyes peeled, avoid impulse buying and always verify the pedigree of rare coins. Buy the coin, not the holder.

Szechuan dollar Y-238 L&M-345 Doubled Die (obverse)

I had mentionned in an earlier post that this type had even rarer subvarieties, one of which I recently acquired an interesting specimen graded by PCGS. At first glance, both coins look very similar. The gaunt dragon has the same ragged one-eyed face that makes its charm, the doubling on the English legend characteristic of this type is still there as well.

A dragon with character

The difference is indeed on the reverse side of the coin (see below). The attentive reader will notice that the top the “庫” character on the reverse is very different, as if the brush of the calligrapher let out an ink blot drawing it. The bottom “省” character is also maculated with a similar silver ink blotch. The full name of this very rare variety is 剑毛龙无头车花心点粘笔庫, or literally “Sharp spines dragon with decapitated Chē, rosette with dot, and smudged Kù” in English; what a nice demonstration of the compactness and expressivity of the Chinese language!

Szechuan dollar Y-238 L&M-345 die chip (reverse)

The image of a gauche scribe making ink blots is more romantic than the hard, mechanical reality: this kind of filling is called a “die chip” error. Damage to a small portion of the die or weakness in its design can lead to raised, unstruck surfaces, which often manifest as plugged letters or dates. A more concise English name for this variety could therefore be “Narrow face dragon with doubled die on the obverse and die chip on the reverse”.

The die crack on the left of the 造 character on the reverse, present on both varieties, implies both types were struck from the same die. This means that the die chip error coins were minted last and their number is only a fraction of the total population for this variety. It is very likely indeed that this die was scrapped as soon as the mint found out that the coins were “stained” by the very silver ink blots that now make them unique and valuable…

Szechuan dollar Y-238 L&M 345 Doubled Die Obverse

The seller kept his word and indeed presented me genuine coins the next day. One of them caught my attention: it was one of the famous Szechuan three musketeers (四川三剑客). The Sān jiàn kè is a trio of rare and famous varieties of the Szechuan dollar, particularly coveted by Chinese coin collectors. These varieties are very difficult to find in good shape, some having been struck with badly duplicated dies, like the one I just found.

Szechuan dollar Y-238 L&M 345 Doubled Die Obverse

The coin I had in front of me was a 剑毛龙 (sharp spines dragon), with a misshapen 庫 character on the reverse: the top of the vertical stroke of 車, which normally should connect to the 广, was missing. The full name of this rare variety: “Sharp Spines Dragon, with a decapitated Chē and a rosette with dot” (剑毛龙无头车（花心带点）) sounds like a dish from a French restaurant menu but it is necessary to precisely identify this particular type amongst more than two hundred recensed varieties of the Szechuan dollar.

Szechuan dollar Y-238 L&M 345 DDO – Reverse

Szechuan dollar (detail): dot in rosette, decapitated 車 in 庫

The 7 Mace and 3 Candareens error Szechuan dollar

Szechuan error coin: 7 mace and 3 candareens

The coin I got in Nanchong is only second in rarity to the 7 mace and 3 candareens Szechuan dollar. That error coin is very hard to obtain in good condition, with most specimen available only in VF grade or less. The Chinese name of the variety is 尖角龙七三误书, or Pointed Horns Dragon with 7.3 lettering error. Despite its stated weight of 7 mace and 3 candareens in English on the obverse, the coin has a Chinese face value of 7 mace and 2 candareens, and a regular size and weight, contrary to the early Kwang-Tung dollar of same denomination that actually had a higher silver content. This rare error coin is affectuously called 三剑客老大 by Szechuan dollar collectors: the beloved elder of the Szechuan three Musketeers. I guess this rare and fierce dragon could be compared to Athos, the stern fatherly figure which is also the last to make its appearance in the book.

Szechuan dollar Y-243 L&M 352

The third musketeer is conversely the easiest to find of the trio. Called 大折金珍珠龙 in Chinese, or Pearl-scaled dragon with Crooked Gold, its particularity resides in the bold bottom stroke of the 金 part of the character 錢, which features an extravagant hook.

Szechuan dollar Y-243 L&M 352 – Obverse

Szechuan dollar Y-243 L&M 352 – Reverse

Szechuan dollar (detail): crooked 金 in 錢 character

The Pearl-scaled dragon is one of the most beautiful varieties of the Szechuan dollar: most collectors will only seek it in higher grade, with all its scales still visible (全龙鳞), rejecting lesser condition coins (somewhat harshly called 垃圾龙, dragon-trash). Porthos, the elegant musketeer from Dumas’ epic, would likely have most fancied this last variety.

There is a dragon on this coin, and it is covered in Chinese characters, therefore several readers assumed it was a Chinese coin… This is actually a Japanese coin. Subsequent strikes of this type of coin include an English face value of “One Yen“, which helps avoiding this mistake, but the coin above is a one year type, with no English legend at all, making its proper identification somewhat more tricky if you are unable to read Chinese characters. While the focus of this blog is clearly Chinese coins, I thought it could be interesting to write an article about this particular dragon dollar.

The strike of western-style round coins began earlier in Japan than in China: the coin above was minted in 1870, the year of the currency reform edicted by the Emperor Meiji (also known by his personal name, Mutsuhito). Seeking to modernise the country and bring it to western standards of the time, the Emperor Meiji replaced the ancient and complicated monetary system by a bi-metallic, western-style currency backed by gold and silver to facilitate trade with foreign countries. Due to the round shape of the dollar sized coins, the new currency was called “Yen“, using the same traditional Chinese character 圆 (Yuan) than in China. The symbol was later simplified as 元 in China, and 円 in Japan, which are now respectively used as the Yuan and Yen currencies symbols.

On the obverse, the coins depicts the Japanese dragon holding the pearl of wisdom. One can note that while the Chinese imperial dragon has always 5 claws, this Japanese dragon has only 3 toes. In Japan as in China, the Emperor was said to be the descendant of dragons. In China, the story goes that dragons originated in China and lost toes as they went farther and farther, until they could not walk anymore. This is why the Korean dragon has 4 claws and the Japanese dragon 3 toes. But there is a long time rivalry between China and Japan, and in Japan people say that dragons actually came from Japan, and grew more claws as they went further away…

Japanese dragon dollar (1870), reverse

The reverse is actually more helpful for identification purpose: it shows the characteristic rising sun symbol and the imperial seal of Japan, a 16 petals chrysantemium flower.

This dragon dollar is known in western catalogues as Y5, type 1 or type 2. But what is the difference between these “types”? This information is surprisingly difficult to find online. There is actually 3 main versions of the 1870 Japanese yen, which only differ in the way the 圆 character was written. The most common is the type 1, as shown at the beginning of this article.

The type 2, also called “正貝円” in Japan (正贝元 in China), is much scarcer. The difference resides solely in a tiny detail of the 圆 character: on the common version, the left stroke at the bottom of the 貝 part of the character is too short, incomplete. On the type 2, the stroke is longer, complete – that is why this type is called “Correct 貝 Yen”.

Japanese Yen M3 1870 Y5 Type 2

Japanese Yen M3 1870 Y5 Type 2 (detail)

There is also a third version, very rare and expensive, called “欠貝円” in Japan (“Defective 貝 Yen”). The 圆 character on this die variation is lacking one stroke, effectively creating a yawning gap in the middle of the character.

Japanese Yen M3 1870 Y5 (Defective 貝)

Japanese Yen M3 1870 Y5 (Defective 貝) (detail)

There is more die variations (手変わり in Japanese) of the early Yen coins, but they are minor and have less impact on the price than the 3 shown above.

The Meiji 3 silver yen is one of the scarcest Japanese coins, however it is still much cheaper than a lot of Chinese coins. You can buy a mint state type 1 1870 Yen for about $1000 USD at current prices.

Y31 Chinese silver dollar

This dragon dollar was issued by the central authority, which means it had standardised weight, metal composition and design, but there exists nonetheless three die variations of this chinese coin.

The most commonly seen is called “浅版” in China, or “shallow strike version” (see below). Since it was struck with old dies, the details of the design are less clear in this version than in early ones. By looking carefully at the DOLLAR word on the reverse, one can see that the R was repaired by adding back a missing leg. It is labelled as “w/o Flame, w/o Dot” by PCGS:

Y31 Chinese silver dollar - "shallow" version (浅版)

The earliest version is called “深版“, or “deep strike version”. The details of this version are very sharp, the R in DOLLAR is still intact, and an additional spine which was lost to weak strike or die deterioration in subsequent versions is still visible at the tip of the tail of the dragon, across the cloud. While this version is only slightly scarcer than the 浅版, it is usually more expensive due to its popularity. This coin is labelled “Extra flame” by PCGS, due to the “additional” spine at the end of the tail of the dragon:

Y31 Chinese silver dollar - detailed version (深版)

The last version is actually a restrike of the 浅版. In the years following the 1911 revolution, old dies were reused to issue new coins and avoid currency shortages. The already well worn dies of the 浅版 Y31 were briefly reused to mint the Y31.1 dollar, much scarcer than the earlier “official” issues. The only difference with the original dies is the addition of a dot after the word “DOLLAR“. Similar alterations were done to other revolutionary restrikes, like the 1904 Kiang Nan dollar with dots in the denomination.

Since the Y31.1 dollar is much more rare and expensive than other versions, many unscrupulous coin dealers or counterfeiters have tooled genuine dollars to add a silver dot, thus instantly doubling their profits. Most of these coins have been polished or cleaned first, though, to make the modification less obvious.

It is therefore advised to avoid buying cleaned or polished Y31.1 dollars. Genuine coins from the type “dot after dollar” (带点) were all made using the “w/o Flame, w/o Dot” 浅版 dies, so they have the same characteristics: fixed “R”, unclear details, and one spine less on the dragon tail. Uneven toning around the dot should be considered with extreme suspicion. A dot on a “Extra flame” dollar is a certain indication of tooling. Once again, be careful when buying chinese coins!

Y31.1 Chinese silver dollar - with dot after "dollar"

Szechuan Province Dollar

Fake Kiang Nan Dollar

Kiang Nan Dollar with circlet-like scales

Chinese characters on this particular variety are written with thicker strokes than usual, and the English legend is bolder as well. This concerned the new owner of this coin; did the unusual shape of the characters meant it was a forgery? I knew the design of the characters was normal, but finding a genuine 珍珠龙 (dragon with circlet-like scales) is a rare occurence, so the pictures still deserved a careful inspection.

Fake Kiang Nan Dollar

Kiang Nan Dollar with circlet-like scales

The low resolution of the pictures didn’t allow me to get a good impression of the surface and relief of the coin. It looked like it had been dipped, but the details were convincing enough. The weight seemed a bit light (26.5 grams), but nothing egregious either. The picture of the edge was too blurry to be useful. At that point, I would have said it was a genuine, albeit badly cleaned coin. Nonetheless, something smelled fishy about it; something didn’t felt quite right, but for now I was unable to pinpoint it.

The next morning, higher resolution pictures were posted. Right upon looking at the edge, I knew the coin was fake. The reeding didn’t have the soft, rounded shape common to all the Kiang Nan silver dollars.

Fake Kiang Nan Dollar

Kiang Nan Dollar with circlet-like scales

Now confident about the true nature of this coin, I had to announce the sad news to its owner: the case of the Bangkok pearls was closed. One day later, the Chinese coin collector posted a follow up. He had got confirmation from another coin dealer that the coin was indeed a forgery, and was able to return it for a refund. This case had a happy ending; not all do…