World Coins: China 1905 Kirin Dollar

Counterfeiters of Chinese coins continue to make new high quality fakes that are very deceptive. One such deceptive practice is to use damaged coins to make counterfeits so that people pay more attention to the damage than to the authenticity of the coin.

Counterfeit China 1905 Kirin L&M-557 Dollar Left to Right: Coin 1 Obverse; Coin 2 Obverse Click image to enlarge.

Recently, we have been seeing a deceptive China 1905 Kirin L&M-557 Dollar. This piece has been made using a transfer die method in which a host coin is used to make dies to produce counterfeits. The real danger with transfer dies is that the design elements will be correct if transferred correctly. Such is the case with this 1905 Kirin Dollar. The primary distinguishing feature of the host coin is the chopmarks, which were subsequently transferred onto the counterfeit dies and every fake that they produce.

Counterfeit China 1905 Kirin L&M-557 Dollar Left to Right: Coin 1 Reverse; Coin 2 Reverse Click image to enlarge.

Since the counterfeit was made using a die transfer method, the die characteristics match those of authentic Kirin 1905 Dollars. The forgery was made of silver just like its genuine counterpart. The flaw with these counterfeits is that they all feature the same repeating marks that can be used as diagnostics to detect the fakes. On the character side of the coin, such markers include the three chopmarks, a copied planchet flaw above the last character in the top legend, and several contact marks in the field. On the dragon side of the coin repeating marks include the chopmarks on the dragon, “damage” on the other side from the chopmarks, and rim damage at about 1 o’clock on the coin.

Counterfeit China 1905 Kirin Dollar Diagnostics Circled in Red Click image to enlarge.

Many collectors believe a coin must be “safe” if it has chopmarks, damage or other problems, but this is not a valid assumption. On a coin such as the 1905 Kirin Dollar that can sell for over $1,000 with chopmarks, this forgery can net the counterfeiter a nice profit at the expense of collectors.