counterfeit silver riyals

Although it is a press scoop for Al-Muqtana Al-Arabi magazine, it is unfortunate news for the Egyptian collector, as silver riyals issued in 1917 AH, known as the Indian coinage, have reached us from China this year.

There are several indicators that suggest these riyals are not genuine to the discerning collector, and they can be easily detected. However, this is often a preliminary test and also a significant indicator of China's trend towards counterfeiting rare Arab currencies. We advise all collectors to exercise caution when purchasing or to rely only on locally sourced coins for added assurance.

There are many distinguishing features (thanks to the enthusiast, Professor Hani Farouk, for the first point): The riyal does not have the letter H; the original luster/luster is almost entirely absent despite the coin's excellent condition; there are dots and raised bumps on the raised letters, especially the letters ح، ي، and ن in حسين and the adjacent plant branch; there are what appear to be fine scratches on the back, which is called tooling, and these are traces of modifications made by the counterfeiter to the die after its manufacture; the weight will most likely be about one gram less in this counterfeit issue, i.e., about 27 grams instead of 28 like the original; the diameter will most likely also differ by one-tenth to one-half millimeter from the genuine issue.