With the popularity of silver ingot collection, its collection value is constantly improving, and counterfeit (imitation) products appear. In addition to understanding the shape and inscription characteristics of silver ingots in various periods, we should also observe the authenticity of silver ingots from the following aspects.
color observation
the color of silver ingots includes two aspects, one is external silver rust, and the other is internal fineness.
In ancient times, the fineness of silver ingots was generally above 95%, and silver ingots with silver content below 95% were rare, especially in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Inscriptions on silver ingots all recorded posts such as pedestrians, storekeepers, weighing and checking silver vaults, and casting supervisors, which were set up to check the fineness of silver ingots. Moreover, the names of craftsmen and others are engraved in the inscription of silver ingots in order to prevent the phenomenon of cutting corners. The silver ingot casting in the Jin Dynasty has a re-inspection procedure for color and weight. Therefore, generally speaking, the fineness of ancient silver ingots meets the official requirements, and some even reach more than 99%. Because of its high color, when it is brand-new, it has a unique bright luster and is full of "jewels". On the contrary, the fineness of counterfeit products is often less than 95%, and the silver content is generally below 9%. It is impossible to be as bright and dark as real silver ingots. The luster of some counterfeit products even turns red, which is caused by too much copper doped in silver. In ancient China, there were cases of adulteration of copper in silver.
Because the ancient silver ingots are far away from today, and most of the cast silver ingots are used for circulation, for a long time, due to the oxidation and people's touch, a protective coat, namely silver rust and patina, was naturally formed outside the silver ingots, which was gray or taupe with warm color. Because of the short time interval, it is impossible for fake silver ingots to generate natural patina like ancient silver ingots, so its color makes people look like they have just been baked, and they are very angry.
The weight of ancient silver ingots was consistent with the weights and measures system at that time. In ancient times, silver ingots were generally divided into five hundred taels, twenty-five taels, twelve taels, five taels and one or two taels, of which fifty taels were the most common. Different weighing systems were implemented in different periods, so there were also differences in the weight of the same silver ingots weighing 5 taels, because 42 grams were used in the Tang Dynasty, 39 grams in the Song Dynasty, 39.8 grams in the Jin Dynasty, 36.6 grams in the Yuan Dynasty and 37 grams in the Ming Dynasty. However, even so, if we replay every two ancient times in the range of 36.6 grams to 42 grams, the conclusion is that the ancient fifty-two weights are between 189 grams and 21 grams today.
As silver accounts for 1.8 grams of chemical elements, putting 5 taels of silver ingots in the palm of your hand gives people a heavy feeling. The fake silver ingot is not entirely true. In the past, in order to reduce the cost, counterfeiters either doped copper, iron, lead and other metals in silver, thus reducing the fineness of silver ingots, or wrapped the copper, iron or lead blocks with silver and made them into the shape of silver ingots in order to deceive people. Although this kind of fake silver ingot with copper, iron and other metals hidden in it weighs more than 18 grams, it does not have the same heavy feeling as the real silver ingot. Although the weight of a fake silver ingot containing lead metal reaches the weight of a real silver ingot, the proportion of lead in chemical elements is as high as 2.7, which is almost twice that of silver. When this fake silver ingot is held in your hand, it is heavier than a real silver ingot. Therefore, to test the weight of silver ingots, we should not only weigh them, but also look at the feeling of holding them in our hands, and to grasp this feeling requires years of contact, careful taste and constant summing up of experience.
Look at the casting
Spiral-like veins can often be seen on the surface of ancient silver ingots, which are arranged orderly from the outside to the inside. In addition, the surface of ancient silver ingots is often slightly concave. There is a saying that this kind of moire and dimple is formed by tapping the side of the metal mold with pliers before condensation when the molten silver water is poured into the metal mold. In fact, more scientifically speaking, when the fineness of silver water is above 9%, once it is cooled sharply at a very high temperature due to the action of oxygen, it will shrink sharply with the release of oxygen, and the cooling always goes from the periphery to the center, which forms the phenomenon of grain and concave ingot surface. If the silver water with low purity is rapidly cooled and shrunk, it is impossible to form silk veins. Of course, whether the ingot surface is slightly concave or not and whether there are silk lines can be controlled artificially. The control methods are as follows: (1) The cooling shrinkage rate of silver water is slowed down instead of cooling and shrinking sharply during molding; (2) Blowing or not blowing. I am afraid that the mastery of this technology was from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. Therefore, for the silver ingots before Ming and Ming dynasties, we can know how their fineness is by looking at whether the ingot surface is slightly concave and whether there is silk grain.
in addition to seeing whether there are silk lines and dimples, it is very important to look at the pores on the bottom of the silver ingot, or honeycomb. Due to the release of oxygen during the molding of various silver ingots, when silver water is poured, the generated gas escapes, resulting in pores on the side or bottom of the silver ingots. Although there are pores, it is not very beautiful for silver ingots, but it is this kind of pores that has become an important basis for us to identify the authenticity of silver ingots. The pores are deep, and the pores are round, bright and full of gods, indicating that the color is high; On the other hand, the color is low. The pores naturally generated in the casting process are generally small holes with different depths. The pores of forged silver ingots are small, uniform in depth and generally shallow. In addition, the casting age of the silver ingot can also be identified from the size of the hole. Generally speaking, the stomata in Song and Yuan Dynasties were larger than those in Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is also a place that counterfeiters often fail to think of and ignore.
sometimes, when observing the side of the silver ingot, you will not only see the air holes, but also find that the real silver ingot has the feeling of overlapping layers. Therefore, the silver ingot with this layered side must be true. Some forgers won't notice such a subtle degree, and make the side of the silver ingot quite smooth, but they reveal the clues.
trial modeling
it is an unchangeable fact that silver ingots in different times have the shape characteristics of that era. For example, the same silver ingot of 5 taels, the boat-shaped silver ingot in the Tang Dynasty is longer than that in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the ends of silver ingots were arc-shaped, and although the periphery was also ridged, it was not upturned, and the ingot surface was slightly concave, and there were silk lines from the outside to the inside. Generally, the ingot surface was larger than the bottom surface and the waist was wider. Compared with the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the silver ingots in the Ming Dynasty were short and thick, so they looked quite thick. The radian at the waist is reduced, the wings at both ends are upturned and the arc is increased. There are few round silver ingots found in Ming dynasty, and their shapes are almost the same as those in Qing dynasty and Republic of China. During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, different shapes of silver ingots were used in different regions. Therefore, the shape characteristics of silver ingots show diversity and complexity. Even so, it can be roughly divided into ingot shape, square shape, round shape, waist shape, archway shape and so on. What needs to be made clear is which one or several kinds are used in various places, and what changes have been made in shape. For example, the archway silver ingot is a special product in Yunnan. If there is a archway-shaped silver ingot cast in other places, it is necessary to consider its authenticity.
depending on the inscription
depending on the inscription, we should not only look at the content of the inscription, but also look at other factors such as the formation of the inscription and the way it is adopted.
to identify the authenticity, we need to master the format characteristics of the inscriptions on silver ingots in various historical periods, including what contents. For example, in the silver ingots of the Tang Dynasty, there was no such position as "pedestrian" to check the fineness, and it was not until the inscriptions of the Song and Jin Dynasties that they appeared. Even in the Song and Jin Dynasties, they all had their own characteristics. For example, the silver ingots with the words "Beijing Selling Collar Silver" and "Going Out Tax" were definitely from the Southern Song Dynasty; The silver ingots with the words "salt judgment", "shop owner" and "envoy" generally belong to the Jin Dynasty.
The inscriptions on the silver ingots in the Tang Dynasty are the same as those on the gold and silver vessels of the times. Although they were engraved, they seem to have been written in calligraphy. There are two kinds of silver ingots in Song Dynasty: engraved and stamped. In the Jin dynasty, engraving was the main method. In the early Yuan Dynasty, it was stamped, arranged irregularly, and the back was often cast with inscriptions; In the late stage, it is mainly carved. The inscriptions on silver ingots in the Ming Dynasty were rarely stamped. Except for "Jinhua Silver", it is generally engraved. The arrangement of words is irregular, although orderly, but it still gives people the feeling of clutter.
Up to now, the inscriptions on silver ingots before the Qing Dynasty are basically in negative except for a round ingot in the thirty-first year of Jiajing in Shanghai Museum. In the Qing Dynasty, the silver ingots in the timeliness country were all in Yangwen, perhaps when the silver ingots were formed and not completely condensed, and the characters generally remained unchanged, with rich contents, which varied from place to place. In short, the identification of the authenticity of silver ingots is to contact more. We should observe carefully, ponder carefully, grasp the characteristics of the times and be good at summing up. When you encounter counterfeit goods, you also need to savor them carefully, find out suspicious things, and summarize the ways and techniques of counterfeiting. Only in this way can practice make perfect, distinguish clearly and be invincible.