China Kweichow Province Dollar (Counterfeit) 1888

Sumrall sent us a picture of his old Chinese dollar from the Kweichow Province. The catalogs do not venture a guess at the value of this rare coin -- there are so few of them and they are almost never traded, so determining fair market value is extremely difficult. One coin in well preserved condition was sold by at auction for $46200 US dollars. Yikes!

Many, many rare Chinese coins today are made as counterfeits. Sooner or later China will grow up as a nation and put a stop to the grossly blatant practice of counterfeiting rare coins. But not today. Counterfeit coins are worth zero.

The Standard Catalog reports that genuine examples of this coin are made of silver and weigh 24.8 grams. Sumrall should check both. The fact that he says it sticks to a magnet is bad news -- silver is not magnetic.

The lesson is obvious: do not buy or sell expensive rare coins to anyone you do not trust. This means that serious collectors spend a good deal of time and money developing relationships with coin dealers. Trust is built over time and experience. There is no other way.
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