China 2015 10 Yuan

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With a mintage in the tens of millions, the numismatic premium is relatively modest for China’s 2015 Year of the Goat 10 yuan. Collector interest is considerable for this coin, which is the inaugural issue in a bimetallic lunar series that just completed its cycle with the Year of the Horse. Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) has certified more than 60,000 examples of the Year of the Goat specimen, which has a copper-nickel center surrounded by a brass ring.

Whenever high interest is paired with low intrinsic value, counterfeiters will consider whether a convincing fake can be produced cheaply. NGC recently received such a fraudulent submission. What can collectors do when they encounter a potential counterfeit like this one? To start, if they have access to a scale, they can weigh it. This one comes in at 9.7g, which is  5 percent above the expected 9.18g.

If hobbyists have access to a loupe, they can examine some of the finer details as well. Notice at the base of the 1 is microtext that reads RMB 10 YUAN. On the counterfeit, most of these characters are amorphous blobs. In addition, the design of the background art in this area is missing the horizontal lines that are present on a genuine coin.

Genuine coins also have a lenticular security feature embedded within the denomination—the letters RMB change into a trio of 10s depending on the angle at which the coin is viewed. This feature is missing on the counterfeit.

Employing some basic tools and foundational knowledge about coins is an excellent way to avoid falling prey to counterfeits. For more sophisticated fakes, remember that NGC backs its determinations of authenticity and grade with the NGC Guarantee.

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A version of this article appears in the October 2026 version of The Numismatist (money.org).

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