Medal China Fantasy Yuan Shi Kai (Fakes are possible) 1916

This is a 'fantasy' silver dollar produced as a collectible and a commemorative for 1916. As such, it is not a legal tender coin, but it carries numismatic (coin collector) value nevertheless. In America we have 'so-called dollars' which are roughly equivalent to Chinese fantasy dollars.

Values are far less than circulating coinage, but respectable nevertheless. Genuine Shi Kai (or Shikai, or Shih-kai, or Shih-khai) dollars command good prices:

GENUINE COINS
worn: $200 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $1000
well preserved: $2000
fully uncirculated: $3500

The coin in our main picture (upper left) comes from Stack's Bowers and Ponterio where it sold for $1650 US dollars during a 2016 auction. CoinQuest thanks Stack's Bowers and Ponterio for use of their coin image.

Requester JL sent us a picture of his Shikai dollar. Unfortunately, it is a crude counterfeit. The image below shows a side-by-side comparison of the Stack's coin and JL's coin. In addition to the obvious lack of detail on the fake, there are many differences in pattern as well.

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