A common basic method for identifying the authenticity of precious metal commemorative coins

Precious metal commemorative coins

A common basic method for authenticity identification

315 Anti-False Week for Rights Protection

In recent years, the precious metal commemorative coin trading market has flourished, and collectors can buy from primary channels such as China's gold coin direct sales agencies, financial institutions and licensed retailers, or trade in the secondary market. In the context of the vigorous development of trading, the phenomenon of counterfeiting and shoddy precious metal commemorative coins also occurs from time to time. For collectors who have been exposed to precious metal commemorative coins for a short time, due to the lack of professional testing equipment and knowledge of the minting process, there are often doubts about the authenticity of commemorative coins purchased outside the official channels.

In view of these situations, today I would like to introduce you some tips and basic knowledge that are suitable for the public to identify the authenticity of precious metal commemorative coins.

One

The basic characteristics of precious metal commemorative coins

Precious metal commemorative coins issued by the mainland are RMB with a specific theme, issued by the Chinese Min min bank in limited quantities. It has been more than 40 years since the mainland issued the first set of precious metal commemorative coins in 1979. The basic features of precious metal commemorative coins are as follows:

Face-specific content elements

The denomination is published with the country name, year number and denomination. Among them, the country name is the People's Republic of China, the era number is represented by Arabic numerals, and the denomination is generally in the form of Arabic numerals plus "yuan" to indicate the national legal tender attributes. In addition to some of the precious metal commemorative coins issued in the early days, since 2000, all precious metal commemorative coins issued in the mainland have simultaneously published the country name, year number and denomination.

The front and back sides are clearly distinguished

The side of the precious metal commemorative coin containing the name of the country is the front, and the side that generally contains the denomination is the back. Because precious metal commemorative coins are often displayed with a specific theme containing the denomination facing upwards, some collectors often mistakenly make the front and back wrong.

Special Tips!

When purchasing precious metal commemorative coins issued in the past 20 years, you should pay attention to: you should first check whether the product has a country name, year number, and denomination, and if the product lacks one of them, it can be directly identified as counterfeit money. The manufacture of precious metal commemorative currency counterfeit money is a criminal act, some counterfeiters in order to evade the crime of counterfeiting currency, but also in order to confuse the cognition of collectors, deliberately on the surface of the product at the same time marked with the country name, year number, denomination, for example, only marked "500", but not marked "yuan", or fabricated theme patterns, so that the product graphics and text do not fully correspond to the real currency graphics.

The latest Measures for the Administration of Currency Identification and Seizure and Appraisal of Counterfeit Currency by the Chinese Bank of China, which came into effect in 2019, defines counterfeit currency: "Counterfeit money refers to a medium that is not issued by the national (regional) monetary authority, imitates the appearance or physical and chemical characteristics of the currency, and is sufficient for the public to mislead and may exercise monetary functions." According to the above definition, products that do not contain similar precious metal commemorative coins such as "yuan" or fabricated theme patterns, which are sufficient to make the public misidentify, even if they do not have corresponding real coins, can be judged as counterfeit.

Two

Graphic identification of precious metal commemorative coins

Before the official issuance of precious metal commemorative coins for each project, the Chinese Bank will publish an announcement of issuance, including the front and back of the commemorative coins, weight, shape, color and other information.

Here's the point!

If you have a "bare coin", how can you quickly identify the authenticity?

Due to the large number and variety of commemorative coin items issued every year, when you only have "bare coins", it may not be accurate to confirm which project the precious metal commemorative coins belong to based on the pattern of the product, and it is difficult to query the project issuance announcement. At this point, the more convenient query method is:

1

Log in to China Gold Coin Network

2

Click on "Artwork Library" at the top of the page

3

According to the product year number

Query precious metal commemorative coin information by year

This method can directly and quickly check whether the graphic, year number, denomination, specification, and material of the product under the opponent correspond to the information of the issued precious metal commemorative coin. If the corresponding real currency pictures and texts cannot be queried, or the graphics and texts cannot correspond to the denomination, year number and other information, this product can be initially identified as counterfeit. The following figure of this online advertisement claims to be the 2019 version of the panda 1 kg gold coin, not only fraudulently using the main pattern on the back of the 2018 version of the panda coin, but also the denomination label has no unit.

Since the first set of panda precious metal commemorative coins were issued by the mainland in 1982, the obverse pattern of all panda precious metal commemorative coins is the Temple of Heaven Prayer Hall, if the front pattern of the project product is the national emblem, this product can be directly identified as counterfeit.

Three

Identification of the specifications and materials of precious metal commemorative coins

The identification of product specifications and materials is also an important starting point for the public to identify the authenticity of precious metal commemorative coins.

China Gold Coin Network Inquiry

In addition to the panda precious metal commemorative coins, in recent years, other project precious metal commemorative coins issued by the mainland generally no longer mark the weight and color on the coin surface, and collectors can query the weight, color, specifications and other information of the precious metal commemorative coins of each project through the China Gold Coin Network in accordance with the method of graphic identification.

Entrust a qualified third-party testing agency

In recent years, the precious metal commemorative coins issued by the mainland are made of 99.9% gold, silver and platinum, except for a small number of counterfeit coins using 99.9% of the color of real gold and real silver, most of the counterfeit coins are made of copper alloy (surface gold/silver plated). The non-destructive color inspection of precious metal commemorative coins generally uses an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF), which can analyze metal materials qualitatively/quantitatively without destructiveness. When the collector confirms the color, it should be noted that only XRF equipped with a precious metal analysis program can quantitatively detect the color of gold and silver. The use of other analysis procedures to detect precious metals can only be qualitative materials, which display test results that are different from the true color. It is recommended that collectors entrust a qualified third-party testing institution (using the GB/T18043 standard for testing) to detect the color.

Check your own weight and dimensional data

The weight and size of the precious metal commemorative coins issued by the mainland are produced in accordance with the standard, the weight and size have positive and negative deviations, and the conditional collectors can use electronic balances and calipers to detect the relevant parameters, and the positive and negative deviations can refer to the gold and silver coin standards of the mainland financial industry, which also stipulates the number of teeth of different specifications of commemorative coins. Due to the implementation time of the gold and silver coin standards and the revision of the version, the deviation range and number of silk teeth listed in the standard are not applicable to all precious metal commemorative coins, especially the early issued commemorative coins.

Four

Craft identification of precious metal commemorative coins

The domestic precious metal commemorative coin minting process mainly includes sandblasting/beading, mirror, invisible graphics, miniature graphics, color pad printing/spray painting, etc. At present, precious metal commemorative coins generally contain both sandblasting and mirror processes. The sandblasting/beadblasting process is to use different quantities of sand particles (or beads, there are also lasers) to spray the selected graphics or planes of the mold into a frosted surface, so that the surface of the stamped commemorative coin forms a sandy and light and dark matte effect. The mirror process is to polish the surface of the mold graphics and cakes to form a bright effect on the surface of the embossed commemorative coin.

It is best to compare the real currency with the product to be identified, and make a detailed comparison from various processes. The relief pattern on the back of the precious metal commemorative coin varies according to the theme of the project, and it is difficult to identify the authenticity by the back relief in the absence of a corresponding real coin or high-definition photo. When there are no comparison conditions, attention should be paid to the relief, sandblasting and mirror process effect of the product to be identified. Most of the gold and silver coins issued in recent years have been embossed with fixed temples of heaven or national emblems, and collectors can avoid the risk of buying counterfeit money by finding and memorizing the characteristics of this conventional pattern.

In recent years, some counterfeit coins have been found to have a positive relief pattern close to the real coin, but if carefully distinguished, the process effect is still quite different from the real coin. The sandblasting of the real coin surface shows a very uniform, delicate and layered effect, and some laser sandblasting can be observed after amplification, while the counterfeit sandblasting effect is rough. In addition, the mirror surface of real coins is flat and reflective like a mirror, while the mirror surface of counterfeit coins often has pits and bumps.

Defend your rights and polish your eyes

Precious metal commemorative coins themselves are of high value, counterfeiters do not hesitate to take risks, and the level of counterfeiting has also developed from shoddy to high imitation. The authenticity identification of precious metal commemorative coins needs to start from the synthesis of multiple factors, and today we will only focus on the general basic methods suitable for the authenticity identification of most precious metal commemorative coins.

If you have purchased counterfeit money in the daily collection process, or have your own experience in identifying true and false, you are also welcome to leave a message to share.

Source: Chinese Gold Coin Culture

Contributed by: Shenzhen Guobao Mint Co., Ltd