The fantasy coin is of great interest. It is one of the most special typest in the numismatic world, and cannot be ignored or crudely summarized by the word “fake”. Although many people dislike fantasy coins and keep away from them their existence is well-known, as the birth of many fantasy coins is due to a variety of coincidences, and it is of great interest to explore the story behind them. It is found that China and foreign countries coincidentally produced various fantasy coins in a certain period, and there are many similar contributing factors to why they were made.
There are not many monographs on various old fantasy coins in China or abroad, which also makes this kind of coin covered with a mysterious veil. Sometimes, people follow the herd and feel the fantasy coin is complicated and confusing, which also provides a hotbed for counterfeits. Against this background, it is difficult for collectors to distinguish the truth from the false. I have seen some numismatic works with chapters on fantasy coins, or coin catalogs with sections on fantasy coins. Yet, there is almost no monograph that only focuses on fantasy coins. Also most illustrated catalogs on fantasy coins only contain a limited number of fantasy coins due to the space. The foreign study of fantasy coins is also limited, with many listed in numismatic catalogs alongside formal coins, or listed separately such as the Unusual World Coins in Krause’s Standard Catalog of World Coins. There is a serious shortfall in terms of systematic organization and research.
Chinese fantasy coins are very interesting, but they were not given enough attention. Chinese fantasy coins generally refer to various counterfeited machine-struck coins produced in the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China period (there are also a small number of fantasy square-hole ancient coins.) They are generally divided according to the year 1949, the victory of the Liberation War. Those minted before the Liberation are old fantasy coins, which are relatively rare and their style is also close to the vintage coins. Also, there are fantasy postage stamps and banknotes. As there was no careful study in the past, a lot of fantasy coins were identified as “fake coins” or “old fake coins”. Various fantasy coins of the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China period are very worthy of careful study. The so-called fantasy coins did not exist in the history of official minting and were produced completely according to the imagination. Some hold that they are just a kind of commemorative medal. For example, some gold and silver coins with the portraits of imperial family members were not issued at all. Not until the end of the Qing dynasty did the officially minted Szechuan Rupee coins have the portrait of Emperor Guangxu (the Yunnan Rupee with the portrait of Guangxu is controversial). Of course, not all fantasy coins are completely imaginary. Some fantasy coins made some changes in material and denominations, or combined patterns of existing coins. The fantasy Szechuan Rupee coins even turn the portrait of the Guangxu emperor to the opposite side. There were also fantasy gold coins made according to the corresponding silver coins. In the past, research was limited, and even many Republican financiers did not know which coins were fantasy and which were official. Some researchers even cover the fantasy coins in the catalogs as officially issued coins.
Through the comparison of Chinese and foreign fantasy coins, I found a very interesting situation, that is, the fantasy coins at home and abroad were not struck officially but by the coin dealers, and these coins make up for “historical regrets” resulting from the absence of official minting. The commemorative themes of some fantasy coins are properly chosen and the patterns are well designed. Some fantasy coin makers used other fantasy coins for reference, and then different varieties of fantasy coins came into being. For example, the largest group of fantasy coins in the West is those commemorating the accession of King Edward VIII to the throne of the Commonwealth of Nations and its colonies (Fig. 5). Fantasy coins of this theme have been made for many decades. Fantasy coins reflect the minting styles of the different eras and the earliest batch of fantasy coins are very rare. The reason for choosing Edward VIII is that he was a famous king who loved his lover more than his power. He abdicated soon after his accession, which left a huge regret in the numismatic community, that is, a lot of Commonwealth countries or regions did not have enough time to issue commemorative coins. Coin dealers have seized this opportunity to produce fantasy coins, and a lot of fantasy coins were minted by commissioning the official mint rather than being struck sneakily. The fantasy coins of Edward VIII are dated the year 1936 fixedly, as this was the year of his accession to the throne, but we know that these fantasy coins were not minted in 1936. (Fig. 6) These coins are made of almost all kinds of materials, including gold, silver, copper coins, and even various kinds of alloy, and the quality also includes common commemorative coins, proof-like, matte proof, and mirror proof. I am afraid that Edward VIII did not expect that he would bring to Western countries the hugest fantasy coin system. The series is so various that some overseas monographs are specializing in the study of these Edward VIII fantasy coins. Although Western countries have produced fantasy coins up to now, the huge scale of fantasy coins of Edward VIII is still impressive.
The Chinese fantasy coins produced in the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China (some hold that these fantasy vintage coins were all made in the Republic of China), especially the fantasy coins with the portraits of the imperial family members, which were not officially issued, were favored by Westerns who came to China in that period. Therefore, there were coin dealers who manufactured fantasy coins of this kind to make a profit. Due to the increased turnover, the quality of counterfeiting was gradually increasing, and the varieties became more and more diverse. Sometimes, it was even hard to distinguish the genuine coins from the fantasy ones.
Different from the background of the birth of the Edward VIII fantasy coins in the West, Chinese fantasy coins were born at a turbulent time at the end of the Qing dynasty and beginning of the Republic of China. Although both were brought about by people’s hunt for novelty, their birth has a close relationship with the development of society. Though Chinese people were familiar with foreign silver dollars such as Mexican silver dollars and Spanish silver dollars and had given them various nicknames, China did not introduce the machine made coins until the end of the Qing dynasty. In the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China, various foreign silver coins and Chinese provincial silver dollars circulated nationwide. However, when survival was the top priority for the Chinese people, there were only a limited number of Chinese collectors and researchers who had the money and time to spare in collecting. Against this background, major collectors of Chinese coins were foreigners. Some of them were keen on collecting Chinese coins and published some works which are quite classic and have been passed down to this day.
Chinese fantasy coins germinated at this time. Because of the different cultures of China and other countries, Westerners in China were fond of collecting coins with portraits. This is closely related to their history of coins, as there were portrait coins when they still used ancient struck coins. As for China, there was almost no portrait coins, and Chinese emperors followed the ‘ancestral rule’ to issue cash coins with square holes, Due to this different culture and habit, when foreign collectors wanted to collect portrait coins that China did not have, coin dealers helped to produce fantasy coins to make up for this absent type. Anyway, at that time there was no central bank announcement. The Ta-Ching Government Bank did not make door-to-door notice about the issuance of central or provincial coins. Fantasy coins could have the portraits of Empress Dowager, mysterious Emperor Guangxu, and young Xuantong. There were even fantasy coins with the theme of the Emperor's wedding and coins featuring Buddha statues inscribed with the year of Tongzhi. As for those provinces without mints, there were also fantasy coins of various denominations. Some fantasy coins were inscribed with the year when there was no machine-striking technique in China or with the province which only produced patterns. Some even had the portrait of the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty (Fig. 7).
At that time, the Qing dynasty had just collapsed, there was no law issued by the imperial family, and everyone was equal. Therefore, no one would be held accountable for minting fantasy coins with imperial family members. In addition to fantasy coins, books about the secret history of the Qing dynasty were popular. However, the imperial family still seemed mysterious, which was interesting to the foreigners. Emperor Guangxu was imprisoned in Yingtai for many years, so some people sympathized with him. The photos of Guangxu were destroyed by Empress Dowager Cixi, but his portrait appeared on the fantasy coins instead. The portraits of some military and political dignitaries also appeared on the fantasy coins. Although not all warlords were keen on putting their portraits on commemorative coins or medals, some coin dealers made fantasy coins or varieties of this kind due to their obsession. For instance, there were fantasy coins with the theme of restoration by Chang Xun. Chang Xun had too much to worry about, so he couldn't issue a commemorative medal during the restoration which only lasted for a few days. Coin dealers were good at grasping the hot spot of current events.
At that time, the Chinese fantasy coins were similar to the later Western fantasy coins, that is, the coin dealers who manufactured these coins learned from each other and shared themes. Though the places of minting were different, they tried their best and made many varieties of various qualities. Many coin dealers once engaged in the coin industry, with some famous coin dealers being the retirees of the related bureaus and mints. When machine-struck coins were introduced at the end of the Qing dynasty, new mints were built while some of the old mints either upgraded their equipment or improved gradually or died out. However, the employees of these bureaus had to live, so some of them bought depreciated machines or equipment from the mint or contacted those who were at the existing mint or found gold and silver stores to produce fantasy coins. Therefore, these fantasy coins were different in style and hard to imitate.
Regardless of China or other countries, fantasy coins were given birth from the commercialization of the numismatic industry, so these coins were usually found in the big cities owing to the huge coin market, trading places, and demands of both Chinese and foreigners. The Chinese fantasy coins were first produced and sold in Beijing and Tianjin, and later, the production and sale turned to Shanghai due to the situation, with a small part turning to Chengdu and other developed urban cities. Regardless of the inscribed place of minting, fantasy coins commonly appeared in large cities, as only the big cities have purchasing power. This is the reason why it doesn't make sense for people to say that they've seen fantasy coins plugging a leak in the roof in remote mountainous areas in later years, as it is unreasonable. If someone did, I'm sorry that he may find a fake coin. Most fantasy coins were purchased by foreigners and taken overseas, so most old fantasy coins were taken out of circulation. The overall mintage of fantasy coins is scarce, and fewer of these coins have been passed down, not to mention the buried. Domestically, most fantasy coins on the market have been returned from overseas in recent years.
In the forum of ShouXi.com, Shi Xinbiao, the student of famous numismatist Ma Dingxiang (馬定祥), said, The Illustration of Chinese Gold Silver and Nickel Coins (《中國金銀鎳幣圖說》) by Chiang Chung Chuan (蔣仲川) issued in June 1939 is a watershed. Before the publication of this book, the counterfeiting vintage coins were fantasy coins. (Coin dealers created coins such as the coins with the portraits of the imperial family members of the Qing dynasty). After the publication of the book, counterfeited coins were made according to the genuine coins.” The fact that the center of the fantasy coin market gradually moved from Beijing to the more economically developed Shanghai was experienced by those old collectors. Ma Dingxian and other numismatists had experience in identifying fantasy coins when they collected them in the past, so naturally, they knew a lot about the counterfeiting behavior of coin dealers and they were able to distinguish the officially minted coins and fantasy coins.
Fig. 4 Unusual World Coins, one of the most commonly used and authoritative numismatic reference books,
includes unusual coins (medals) from various countries,
and which has been updated over several editions. It also covers fantasy coins from various countries but they are not listed individually.
Generally, it is a reference book with a mixed assortment of coins.
The existence of fantasy coins is a normal phenomenon. Many other Asian countries also have fantasy coins. For instance, some of the Japanese fantasy coins have an ancient flavor and artistic creativity, some varieties of which are even considered to be the Chinese coins in history by many. Hence, the study of fantasy coins can also help to clear up and identify some controversial historical currencies.
There are still many other similarities and differences between the fantasy coins of the East and the West, and we look forward to seeing more exploration and conclusions by modern numismatic researchers. We also look forward to the appearance of more related works.
There are not many monographs on various old fantasy coins in China or abroad, which also makes this kind of coin covered with a mysterious veil. Sometimes, people follow the herd and feel the fantasy coin is complicated and confusing, which also provides a hotbed for counterfeits. Against this background, it is difficult for collectors to distinguish the truth from the false. I have seen some numismatic works with chapters on fantasy coins, or coin catalogs with sections on fantasy coins. Yet, there is almost no monograph that only focuses on fantasy coins. Also most illustrated catalogs on fantasy coins only contain a limited number of fantasy coins due to the space. The foreign study of fantasy coins is also limited, with many listed in numismatic catalogs alongside formal coins, or listed separately such as the Unusual World Coins in Krause’s Standard Catalog of World Coins. There is a serious shortfall in terms of systematic organization and research.
Chinese fantasy coins are very interesting, but they were not given enough attention. Chinese fantasy coins generally refer to various counterfeited machine-struck coins produced in the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China period (there are also a small number of fantasy square-hole ancient coins.) They are generally divided according to the year 1949, the victory of the Liberation War. Those minted before the Liberation are old fantasy coins, which are relatively rare and their style is also close to the vintage coins. Also, there are fantasy postage stamps and banknotes. As there was no careful study in the past, a lot of fantasy coins were identified as “fake coins” or “old fake coins”. Various fantasy coins of the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China period are very worthy of careful study. The so-called fantasy coins did not exist in the history of official minting and were produced completely according to the imagination. Some hold that they are just a kind of commemorative medal. For example, some gold and silver coins with the portraits of imperial family members were not issued at all. Not until the end of the Qing dynasty did the officially minted Szechuan Rupee coins have the portrait of Emperor Guangxu (the Yunnan Rupee with the portrait of Guangxu is controversial). Of course, not all fantasy coins are completely imaginary. Some fantasy coins made some changes in material and denominations, or combined patterns of existing coins. The fantasy Szechuan Rupee coins even turn the portrait of the Guangxu emperor to the opposite side. There were also fantasy gold coins made according to the corresponding silver coins. In the past, research was limited, and even many Republican financiers did not know which coins were fantasy and which were official. Some researchers even cover the fantasy coins in the catalogs as officially issued coins.
Through the comparison of Chinese and foreign fantasy coins, I found a very interesting situation, that is, the fantasy coins at home and abroad were not struck officially but by the coin dealers, and these coins make up for “historical regrets” resulting from the absence of official minting. The commemorative themes of some fantasy coins are properly chosen and the patterns are well designed. Some fantasy coin makers used other fantasy coins for reference, and then different varieties of fantasy coins came into being. For example, the largest group of fantasy coins in the West is those commemorating the accession of King Edward VIII to the throne of the Commonwealth of Nations and its colonies (Fig. 5). Fantasy coins of this theme have been made for many decades. Fantasy coins reflect the minting styles of the different eras and the earliest batch of fantasy coins are very rare. The reason for choosing Edward VIII is that he was a famous king who loved his lover more than his power. He abdicated soon after his accession, which left a huge regret in the numismatic community, that is, a lot of Commonwealth countries or regions did not have enough time to issue commemorative coins. Coin dealers have seized this opportunity to produce fantasy coins, and a lot of fantasy coins were minted by commissioning the official mint rather than being struck sneakily. The fantasy coins of Edward VIII are dated the year 1936 fixedly, as this was the year of his accession to the throne, but we know that these fantasy coins were not minted in 1936. (Fig. 6) These coins are made of almost all kinds of materials, including gold, silver, copper coins, and even various kinds of alloy, and the quality also includes common commemorative coins, proof-like, matte proof, and mirror proof. I am afraid that Edward VIII did not expect that he would bring to Western countries the hugest fantasy coin system. The series is so various that some overseas monographs are specializing in the study of these Edward VIII fantasy coins. Although Western countries have produced fantasy coins up to now, the huge scale of fantasy coins of Edward VIII is still impressive.
The Chinese fantasy coins produced in the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China (some hold that these fantasy vintage coins were all made in the Republic of China), especially the fantasy coins with the portraits of the imperial family members, which were not officially issued, were favored by Westerns who came to China in that period. Therefore, there were coin dealers who manufactured fantasy coins of this kind to make a profit. Due to the increased turnover, the quality of counterfeiting was gradually increasing, and the varieties became more and more diverse. Sometimes, it was even hard to distinguish the genuine coins from the fantasy ones.
Different from the background of the birth of the Edward VIII fantasy coins in the West, Chinese fantasy coins were born at a turbulent time at the end of the Qing dynasty and beginning of the Republic of China. Although both were brought about by people’s hunt for novelty, their birth has a close relationship with the development of society. Though Chinese people were familiar with foreign silver dollars such as Mexican silver dollars and Spanish silver dollars and had given them various nicknames, China did not introduce the machine made coins until the end of the Qing dynasty. In the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China, various foreign silver coins and Chinese provincial silver dollars circulated nationwide. However, when survival was the top priority for the Chinese people, there were only a limited number of Chinese collectors and researchers who had the money and time to spare in collecting. Against this background, major collectors of Chinese coins were foreigners. Some of them were keen on collecting Chinese coins and published some works which are quite classic and have been passed down to this day.
Chinese fantasy coins germinated at this time. Because of the different cultures of China and other countries, Westerners in China were fond of collecting coins with portraits. This is closely related to their history of coins, as there were portrait coins when they still used ancient struck coins. As for China, there was almost no portrait coins, and Chinese emperors followed the ‘ancestral rule’ to issue cash coins with square holes, Due to this different culture and habit, when foreign collectors wanted to collect portrait coins that China did not have, coin dealers helped to produce fantasy coins to make up for this absent type. Anyway, at that time there was no central bank announcement. The Ta-Ching Government Bank did not make door-to-door notice about the issuance of central or provincial coins. Fantasy coins could have the portraits of Empress Dowager, mysterious Emperor Guangxu, and young Xuantong. There were even fantasy coins with the theme of the Emperor's wedding and coins featuring Buddha statues inscribed with the year of Tongzhi. As for those provinces without mints, there were also fantasy coins of various denominations. Some fantasy coins were inscribed with the year when there was no machine-striking technique in China or with the province which only produced patterns. Some even had the portrait of the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty (Fig. 7).
At that time, the Qing dynasty had just collapsed, there was no law issued by the imperial family, and everyone was equal. Therefore, no one would be held accountable for minting fantasy coins with imperial family members. In addition to fantasy coins, books about the secret history of the Qing dynasty were popular. However, the imperial family still seemed mysterious, which was interesting to the foreigners. Emperor Guangxu was imprisoned in Yingtai for many years, so some people sympathized with him. The photos of Guangxu were destroyed by Empress Dowager Cixi, but his portrait appeared on the fantasy coins instead. The portraits of some military and political dignitaries also appeared on the fantasy coins. Although not all warlords were keen on putting their portraits on commemorative coins or medals, some coin dealers made fantasy coins or varieties of this kind due to their obsession. For instance, there were fantasy coins with the theme of restoration by Chang Xun. Chang Xun had too much to worry about, so he couldn't issue a commemorative medal during the restoration which only lasted for a few days. Coin dealers were good at grasping the hot spot of current events.
At that time, the Chinese fantasy coins were similar to the later Western fantasy coins, that is, the coin dealers who manufactured these coins learned from each other and shared themes. Though the places of minting were different, they tried their best and made many varieties of various qualities. Many coin dealers once engaged in the coin industry, with some famous coin dealers being the retirees of the related bureaus and mints. When machine-struck coins were introduced at the end of the Qing dynasty, new mints were built while some of the old mints either upgraded their equipment or improved gradually or died out. However, the employees of these bureaus had to live, so some of them bought depreciated machines or equipment from the mint or contacted those who were at the existing mint or found gold and silver stores to produce fantasy coins. Therefore, these fantasy coins were different in style and hard to imitate.
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| Fig. 1 Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Coins Gold; Silver, Nickel, and Aluminum, by Eduard Kann. This book has a section on fantasy coins but the space is limited. The catalog by Eduard Kann allowed collectors to know the fantasy coins at that period of time. | Fig. 2 The Collection and Study of Modern World Coins, by Zhang Shaolong, has chapters on Chinese and foreign fantasy coins (fantasy coins, restrike coins, privately struck coins, and coin-like medals). | Fig. 3 Selective Rubbings of Chinese Modern Fantasy Coins by Shi Xinbiao, Zhou Shouyuan, Li Wei. The book inherits the study results of the numismatic experts in the Republican period, as a monograph of fantasy coins. The early rubbings are selected and introduced, but the book only contains 100 fantasy coins and medals due to the limited space. |
Regardless of China or other countries, fantasy coins were given birth from the commercialization of the numismatic industry, so these coins were usually found in the big cities owing to the huge coin market, trading places, and demands of both Chinese and foreigners. The Chinese fantasy coins were first produced and sold in Beijing and Tianjin, and later, the production and sale turned to Shanghai due to the situation, with a small part turning to Chengdu and other developed urban cities. Regardless of the inscribed place of minting, fantasy coins commonly appeared in large cities, as only the big cities have purchasing power. This is the reason why it doesn't make sense for people to say that they've seen fantasy coins plugging a leak in the roof in remote mountainous areas in later years, as it is unreasonable. If someone did, I'm sorry that he may find a fake coin. Most fantasy coins were purchased by foreigners and taken overseas, so most old fantasy coins were taken out of circulation. The overall mintage of fantasy coins is scarce, and fewer of these coins have been passed down, not to mention the buried. Domestically, most fantasy coins on the market have been returned from overseas in recent years.
In the forum of ShouXi.com, Shi Xinbiao, the student of famous numismatist Ma Dingxiang (馬定祥), said, The Illustration of Chinese Gold Silver and Nickel Coins (《中國金銀鎳幣圖說》) by Chiang Chung Chuan (蔣仲川) issued in June 1939 is a watershed. Before the publication of this book, the counterfeiting vintage coins were fantasy coins. (Coin dealers created coins such as the coins with the portraits of the imperial family members of the Qing dynasty). After the publication of the book, counterfeited coins were made according to the genuine coins.” The fact that the center of the fantasy coin market gradually moved from Beijing to the more economically developed Shanghai was experienced by those old collectors. Ma Dingxian and other numismatists had experience in identifying fantasy coins when they collected them in the past, so naturally, they knew a lot about the counterfeiting behavior of coin dealers and they were able to distinguish the officially minted coins and fantasy coins.
Fig. 4 Unusual World Coins, one of the most commonly used and authoritative numismatic reference books,
includes unusual coins (medals) from various countries,
and which has been updated over several editions. It also covers fantasy coins from various countries but they are not listed individually.
Generally, it is a reference book with a mixed assortment of coins.
There are still many other similarities and differences between the fantasy coins of the East and the West, and we look forward to seeing more exploration and conclusions by modern numismatic researchers. We also look forward to the appearance of more related works.
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Fig5 A 1936 King Edward VIII Bermuda fantasy coin
Fig6 A 1936 Hong Kong Edward VIII fantasy coin
(not minted in 1936)
Fig7 A fantasy coin with the portrait of Emperor Hongwu in the 8th year of his reign
Fig8 A Yen Hsi-Shan fantasy coin minted in the Republic of
China period
Fig9 A fantasy commemorative coin celebrating the restoration of Zhang Xun
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(not minted in 1936)
Fig7 A fantasy coin with the portrait of Emperor Hongwu in the 8th year of his reign
Fig8 A Yen Hsi-Shan fantasy coin minted in the Republic of
China period
Fig9 A fantasy commemorative coin celebrating the restoration of Zhang Xun