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06 January 2020
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Old Counterfeits: The Smithsonian Collection,
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Below is a continued selection of some of the more interesting examples from this collection
The Bank of China Counterfeits:
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The Bank of China 1 yuan of 1918 (SCWPM 51m) (forgery), produced after 1928. The nearly missing areas of finer detail of the Temple of Heaven vignette are the most obvious giveaway, especially to the stone balustrades. The guilloche underprints are weak and incorrectly coloured. The serial numbers are using an incorrect font. The back is more convincing; less so up close. Below: close up of the back showing the blurred detail and 'wonky' text. 
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The Bank of China 5$ of 1918 (SCWPM 52k) (forgery), produced c1930s. An unusual incomplete counterfeit, missing the back print but showing how the serial number prefixes were placed during the main printing process, with the numbers and signatures added later (as with the the genuine note regarding the signatures). This may just be an odd random survival or it more likely survived as evidence perhaps for a criminal trial, which may explain why many (usually complete) forgeries do survive, plus those items retained by banks and currency printers for reference. |
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The Bank of China 1 yuan of 1937 (SCWPM 79) (forgery). A scarcer forgery. The Smithsonian has forged examples of all three denominations of this series. The printing is light, flat and very patchy. For example, much of the line around the borders on the front is missing. The serial numbers are weak and the text on the back is very shoddily reproduced. The title 'manager' in particular, and 'national currency'. |
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The Bank of Communications Counterfeits:
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The Bank of Communications 5 yuan of 1914 (SCWPM 117y/w) (forgery), produced early 1920s.
A rare counterfeit of a rare note. This is of the first type, issued c1915 to 1933 (at the latest). The signature combination is rare in itself: I have personally only seen one other note of this series (a genuine 1 yuan) with these signatures. Clearly a forgery with patchy lithographed printing which betrays itself as usual on the vignettes and on the very wonky lettering of the printers name. The serial numbers again are a giveaway; weakly and clumsily printed. Below: details of the front 
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The Bank of Communications 10 yuan of 1935 (SCWPM 155) (forgery), produced c1941. Difficult to spot at first, but it soon becomes apparent that this is another forgery. The printing is flat, the colouring weak and the underprint is barely there. Below: the back vignette of the Imperial Summer Palace at Peking (Beijing) is especially weak in detail 
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Commercial Banking Counterfeits:
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The Commercial Bank of China 10 dollars of 1920 (SCWPM 5a) (forgery). The main giveaway as often is the serial numbers, which are very clumsy, especially the suffix 'X'. As always, the lithographed printing gives a flattened appearance to the design, especially appreciable in the enlargement below. The note has circulated well and has even received a chop stamped on the front by a careless or dishonest merchant. 
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The China & South Sea Bank Ltd 5 yuan of 1924 (SCWPM A124a) (forgery). A very heavily circulated counterfeit with several chop marks and annotations by merchants/businesses testifying to the supposed authenticity of the note. The most obvious giveaway is... the serial numbers. The poor condition of this note, and the often poor state of many forgeries is mostly due to the inferior (for currency purposes) quality of paper that the fakes are printed on. |
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The Central Reserve Bank of China:
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The Central Reserve Bank of China 5 yuan of 1940 (SCWPM J10a) (forgery).
A forgery of a Japanese puppet bank issue. Possibly printed from a hand carved block rather than lithographed, judging by the clumsy, scratched out appearance of the detailing as shown below. The portrait is especially flawed, as is the English text on the back. 
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Fin.
