Chinese Fakes Getting Better

[Fulvio]

Here's a fake I snapped at the local coin shop the other day (the fake undated florin was too blurry to post, sorry)...



Now, I'm not into chinese coins, but the interesting things to note about this are that a) The design is pretty much spot on, making it hard to pick. And more importantly, b) The material is identical, in this case sterling silver, making it the exact same weight as the real thing.

It looks like these guys are getting smarter, and our days of finding glaring errors on the fakes may well be numbered. With accelerated aging, it may soon be impossible to pick them.

[robbiegal]

how do you know it's fake?
there were a lot around a few years ago (decades - I have seen the adverts in old coin review mags)

[Mister T]

I can't see the photo. And when you say it was at the local coin shop was it for sale?

[runway]

China can fake their own fakes all they want but essentially every collector is aware of this fact and serious Aussie coin collectors buy from trusted dealers the internet is full of grubs ebay hosts most of them

[Fulvio]

I can't say the photo. And when you say it was at the local coin shop was it for sale?

No, he bought it knowing it was a fake, as part of his research. We were discussing fakes in general, and he showed me the florin minus the date, which looked extremely sus, then this to illustrate the quality they can do. He did have a real one as well, but sold it.