臆造咸丰六年商王永盛匠万全造上海银饼。 CHINA. Shanghai. Fantasy Silver Tael, "Year 6 (1856)" (ca. mid 20th Century). In the Name of Hsien-feng (Xianfeng). NGC AU-55. 光边。正面为正文"咸丰六年上海县号商王永盛足纹银饼"，背文"朱源裕监倾曹平实重壹两银匠万全造"。老假（或赝品、赝品或仿制品），此品与原版非常相似，主要区别在于字体风格、币缘设计和底板材质的微小变化。儘管存在差异，整体质量依然相当出色，几乎完全可以作为真品呈献，以当时的老假工艺而言，可说是相当高质量。因此，很难定明此老假的铸制是否出于恶意，或只是为了让收藏家一偿心愿，能将稀罕版式纳入囊中。无论如何，许多以这种方式铸制的老假时至今日亦被视为同样稀有，而且距离铸制已过了半个多世纪，无疑增添了它们的收藏价值。此版我们首次经手，中等灰色币面，处理痕迹均匀。可能如数十年前一样，对于藏家而言，此乃性价比之选，值得关注。 Shi-3var.; cf. L&M-589; K-F900; cf. WS-1122. Plain edge variety. Obverse: "Cake (of) standard silver (from the) business firm (of) Wang Yung Sheng (in the) Shanghai district (in the) 6th year (of Emperor) Hsien Feng;" Reverse: "Made (by) Wan Chuan, silversmith; Supervised (by) Chow Yuen Yu. Exact weight one Tsaoping Tael." An old copy (or counterfeit, forgery, or imitative type), this issue closely resembles the original issues, with the primary differences being minor variations in the stylization of the characters, the lack of edge design, and the overall fabric of the fields. Despite these differences, this piece was made in high enough quality where it presumably could have been sold as genuine prior to the period when high quality illustrations were ready available. As such, its difficult to say definitively if these items were produced with ill-intent, or were made to provide collectors with an ability to acquire an item of similar design to the otherwise unobtainable originals. In any event, many items made in this vein can be considered RARE today, and the well-over-half-century since their manufacture has certainly bolstered their collectability. This example happens to the be the first we have seen of its type, with moderate gray surfaces and scattered but even handling. As could have been said decades ago, a good chance for the collector to acquire a reasonable copy of a type that has otherwise exceeded affordability for most collectors.
