I still have a lot, just considering your eyesight health (but almost the same)
Forgery and identification of ancient money
China has been rich for thousands of years. In this long time, there are more than several kinds of coins, some rare and some common. As the saying goes, "things are rare." Generally, people who collect coins always want precious coins that are rare in the world. This kind of psychology is just used by those antique dealers, and fakes appear. Therefore, whether collecting or studying coins, the first problem to be solved is how to get rid of the false and keep the true. This paper wants to make a systematic introduction to several methods of counterfeiting and identification of coins, as well as some knowledge that should be possessed in identifying coins.
1. Main methods of forging ancient money
(1) sediment turning method.
Turning over sand is the main technology of coinage in ancient China. Before the Sui Dynasty, Qian Fan was mainly used for casting coins. Since the Tang Dynasty, mother money has been used to turn over sand. No matter which casting method, except for some historical periods, generally speaking, more attention is paid to the technological quality of coins. The texture of coins is generally fine and meticulous. Up to now, the surface naturally produces a layer of brown patina, which makes people feel exhausted and soft in color. The casting process of fake goods is generally sloppy, which makes the money scattered and makes people feel very angry. Although sand holes and air holes on the surface of money have been polished, they are not as smooth as natural wear.
Generally, counterfeit money is minted mother money and is rarely used as counterfeit money. In ancient times, when casting money, it was not a mother money put into the sandbox, but a whole box. Because it is a whole box of sand molds, the pressure of sand molds is relatively uniform, and the thickness of coins cast is also relatively consistent. However, counterfeiters generally only carve a mother coin, not a whole box of sand-turning molds. So it is also a mother coin casting. Because the number of mother coins is different from the casting process, the thickness of the coins cast is different due to deformation.
Ancient coins are often tree-shaped from sand molds and need to be processed and polished. Because the shape of ancient coins is round and has square holes, the turned coin blanks are strung on the same square bar and polished at the same time, and the file marks left on the edge of coins are not straight, but curved and parallel to the money edge. You can vaguely observe some big money in Xianfeng money in Qing Dynasty. Even so, due to the long time, the file marks on the edge of the money disappeared. On the contrary, forgers only know that repeatedly filing blanks makes the money edge smooth, while the filing marks on the money edge are chaotic or linear, giving people a brand-new impression. However, it is worth mentioning that the processing methods of Wang Mang's cloth coins are different. Although there may be dozens of strings during processing, because the shape is not round, the traces of filing are either perpendicular to the money surface or inclined to the money surface in a straight line. Fakes generally don't pay attention to these, and most of them leave a model line.
When identifying coins, it is also a place that should be paid attention to, which is often ignored by counterfeiters. After ancient coins were added to the field of commodity circulation, people strung them together with tools such as ropes. Therefore, with the increase of the circulation time of coins, the natural wear and tear of coins is no longer as angular as newly baked coins, and some even lead to the deformation of coins. Counterfeit money is square and angular, leaving traces of new files.
Because counterfeiters use real money to make sand molds, the force is uneven, not only the thickness of coins is different, but also the characters of coins are likely to be different, which is rare in real ancient coins.
Because turning over sand will bring so much trouble, it is easy to be identified. Therefore, counterfeiters often add some copper rust to confuse people, which requires us to have all kinds of identification knowledge, not just from turning over sand.
(2) carving method.
This method of counterfeiting is more important, that is, an ordinary coin will become a precious coin after processing and carving. Carving methods mainly include the following:
One is carving with flowing copper. In ancient times, when casting coins, due to technical reasons, the copper liquid crystal left over from the casting will be left on the surface of copper coins, which is called flowing copper in the coin world. The existence of flowing copper is nothing remarkable, but it has become an object that can be used in the eyes of counterfeiters. These flowing copper are often carved into stars or the moon, while others are carved into words. These carved stars, moons or characters are generally misplaced.
One is to engrave directly on the surface of coins. There are two kinds of coins with concave characters: half and five. Forgers often carve auspicious or obscure symbols, numbers and words on the surface of coins, and some carve some patterns on the edge or meat of coins. These characters, symbols, numbers and patterns attached to coins are often out of harmony with the whole coin because they are engraved later, giving people a sense of redundancy.
One is to carve the original Qian Wen. This kind of carving can be divided into two types: one is the carving of coins; The first is the carving on the back of the coin.
During the Warring States Period, there were many three-character knives found in Qi State, which were not precious, but the six-character knives in Qi State were not found, so counterfeiters took advantage of the psychology that the six-character knives were hard to get and collectors were eager to get them, and carved them into six-character knives to fish in troubled waters. At first glance, these fake six-character knives are regular in shape and conform to the characteristics of Qi Dao in the pre-Qin period, and some characters are the same. But if you look closely, you will find that the words are very crowded, leaving a knife mark when you change them. Some people change the inscription on the surface of coins by shoveling out characters, such as shoveling out the word "Tian" of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and its holy treasure and small flat money, making it a horizontal reading of Taiping and its holy treasure. Another example is to shovel the word "xi" of Kangxi Bao Tong into a simplified word "Xi", and so on. Among the coins to be carved, one is carved by grinding off the inscription with old bare-backed copper coins. For example, there is a coin with a direct reading of half a penny, which looks quite good from the aspects of rough surface, production, rust color and patina, but the reading is doubtful. The word "banwen" is as flat as the face of money, and it basically did not exist in Qin and Han Dynasties. If you taste it carefully, the word "half a penny" is artificially carved.
It is said that there are some bizarre ways to carve coins, such as carving coins with bronze mirrors.
All these carving methods have a fatal weakness, that is, forgers often apply fake rust in order not to expose traces of the carved places. Because this kind of fake rust is fake, unlike the real rust naturally generated by coins, it is easy to peel off, giving people a feeling of affectation, which is extremely out of harmony with the whole coin. However, we should pay special attention to some mother-carved imitations in the Qing Dynasty. Because the Qing dynasty is not far away, most of the engraved mothers are free of rust, which gives counterfeiters an opportunity to forge rust like other coins. How to distinguish the authenticity of a carved mother? All genuine engraved mothers are carved with copper, with warm and golden color, smooth knife marks, natural and vivid characters, but fakes are not. Not only the copper material selected is not as good as the original, but also the carving is rough. Moreover, because it is an imitation, the characters on the face of money always appear dull and lacking in spirit, especially full of words. Special attention should be paid to those imitations of carved mothers made by sculptors in the Qing Dynasty. Some fake carved mothers are made of sand, which is easier to see through.
(3) Embedding method.
Embedding is another important method of counterfeiting coins. Traditional methods of counterfeiting, such as digging, assembling and assembling, can be summarized as embedding.
Ancient coins often form some special versions because of mistakes or changes, such as reverse folding. This version, which was formed due to the negligence of casting craftsmen, is generally rarer than ordinary coins and is also an indispensable variety for collectors. Counterfeiters take advantage of this, either grinding two coins very thin and sticking them together, or taking half of each coin and sticking them together to make a rare fold or front. Coins forged in this way seem impeccable in terms of words and rust color, but when they are gently thrown on the table or on the ground, the sound they make is really pale in comparison with real coins such as folding back. Some fake meat products are similar.
Digging and patching is a common method in patching. This method has the feeling of stealing the column, that is, one or two words of Qian Wen are dug out, and then they are replaced by Qian Wen on other coins, making them rare coins. For example, in the Northern Song Dynasty, Xiao Ping Qian was a rare treasure, and counterfeiters removed the word "Yuan" from ordinary Yuan Bao Qian, and then removed other writing styles and similar words.