Story of An Imitated Dated Saddle Sycee
Imitated Dated Saddle Sycee
Weight: 181 grams
Inscriptions: 庚戌柒月/福盛匯紋
Year Gan Shu (1910) the 7th Month
Fu Shen (Silver shop) "Huei Wen" (Abbreviation of "Huei Hao Wen Yin", i.e., Remittance Bank Fine Silver)
Assaying chops: 公估童佘段看
Public Assayer Tong, Ser, Duan Looked
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Dated Saddle is one of the rarest
kinds of Yunnan Saddle Sycee, I have found only 4 genuine pieces of this type
over the past decade, and acquired 2 as I-D/1, I-D/2 shown below. Normally, the
market value of these can be 3-4 times or greater than that of a common
specimen, which also gives a great incentive for counterfeiting.
Apart from many counterfeits which may be spotted with a glance, and are
omitted here, F/1 shown can be considered one of the best imitations and merits
a special note.
Why is it an imitation?
-Physically
Cosmetic Appearance
The dark gray on its surface does not look like the typical color of the rust coating on an aged specimen. No silver color of an old sycee will appear when the piece is rubbed with a cloth. It could be a sign that this specimen had been treated with some kind of chemical to hide its real age.
Wrong calligraphy
Most of the strokes of the writings are too slim, the writer didn't use his strength evenly on each stroke he wrote, and overall it looks too artificial. The forger seemed to be trying to create the look of the calligraphy of an the average Saddle, however, this is also the most difficult appearance to achieve, and this imitation didn't do it very well.
However, these two discrepancies are not that easily noticed by the average
collector!
-Historically
Wrong matching of the assaying chop and a Dated Sycee.
This Dated Saddle, according to "The Legendary Currency of the Late Ching Dynasty--A Study on Yunnan Saddle Sycee" or "A Catalogue of Yunnan Historical Silver Ingots" by the Author (hereunder together as "Author's Books"), it is a Type I-D-#5, and a very last kind of Official Public Assayer's Saddle Sycee cast in the Kunmin City. Intending to restrict the amount of Saddle Sycee cast in Kummin, the Provincial Board of Revenue dictated to all silver banks and smiths that all the Saddle Sycee cast by them after the 1st day, the 2nd month, the 2nd year of Hsuan Tung (1910) would have to be dated, and only 2 official public assayers were authorized to assay these new Dated Saddle Sycee. They were Tong (Fu Shen) and Ser (Chin Shen). Hence, all the Saddle Sycee were dated and assayed by the two assayers with the stamp of "Official Public Assayer Tong, Ser Looked" as same as I-D/1 and I-D/2. There was not an assaying chop of "Public Assayer Tong, Ser, Duan Looked" used for the Dated Saddle. Specifically, Duan was not an assayer authorized to assay Dated Saddle Sycee.
Actually, "Public Assayer Tong, Ser, Duan Looked" had been an assaying chop employed in another Public Assayer's Saddle Sycee in Kunmin (Author's Books: Type I-C#1, as the following I-C/1 exemplified) which circulated earlier than the Dated Saddle (Type I-D-#5) until the 30th year of Kuag Hsu (1904) when Official Public Assayers' Saddle Sycee (Author's Books: Type I-D) was cast. From that time, Public Assayer Duan was not nominated by the Provincial Board of Revenue to be an Official Public Assayer, and it is unlikely he would be allowed to assay a Dated Saddle Sycee-A kind of Official Public Assayer's Saddle Sycee.
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I-D/1 (A Genuine Dated Saddle Sycee)
Weight: 187 grams
Inscriptions: 庚戌伍月/裕源匯紋
Year Gan Shu (1910) the 5th Month
Yu Yuan (Silver shop) "Huei Wen" (Abbreviation of "Huei Hao Wen Yin", i.e., Remittance Bank Fine Silver)
Assaying chop: 官公估童佘看
Official Public Assayer Tong Ser Looked
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I-D/2 (A Genuine Dated Saddle Sycee)
Weight: 204 grams
Inscriptions: 辛亥伍月/萬泰匯紋
Year Hsin Hai (1911) the 5th Month
Wang Tai (Silver shop) "Huei Wen"
Assaying chops: 官公估童佘看
Official Public Assayer Tong Ser Looked
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I-C/1 (A Public Assayers' Saddle Sycee.
No date)
Weight: 182 grams
Inscriptions: 福盛廣記/匯號紋銀
Fu Shen Guan Firm
Remittance Bank Fine Silver
Assaying chops: 公估童佘段看
Public Assayer Tong, Ser, Duan Looked
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A Letter of Guaranty on the Compliance to the Purity Standard for Official
Public Assayers' Saddle Sycee When It Was About Being Cast, Issued By Duan at
the 1st day, the 8th month, the 30th year of Kuang Hsu (1904).
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The person imitating this piece made a mistake by using a wrong assaying chop,
however, it was a clever one. This mistake was also the major reason why many collectors (including me) got fooled and paid the price with a smile and without
a blink of their eyes. We thought that we might get a bargain for a precious
previously unrecorded specimen!
I first released the details of this cleverly imitated piece in my book
published in 1996. Within 2 months, 6 major collectors in Taiwan called
me, telling me almost the same story about an identical piece they got and they
didn't know it was an imitation until reading the book . We found that all the
pieces we bough came directly or indirectly came from the same dealer. Instead
of giving the dealer a hard time, I decided to keep this piece as a souvenir;
after all, this is educational material and part of my tuition.
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