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 Replies: 12 / Views: 76,231 |
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New Member
United States
4 Posts |
I need help identifying a coin I found in my grandmother's collection. My internet search identified it as an "Asian/Chinese" coin, but there are so many variations and the oriental characters are so difficult to match, I didn't get very far. I would like to know if it is "real" or a copy. And if it has any value. I have included two pics (front and back) Any help would be greatly appreciated.   |
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Moderator
 Australia
16810 Posts |
It is indeed Chinese, from the reign of the Dao Guang emperor (spelled "Tao-kuang" in the catalogues, 1820-1850), cast by the Board of Revenue mint, Beijing. The top pic is upside-down.
It appears genuine to me, though is very roughly finished, with much of the casting sprue remaining on the rim.
As with most cash coins from the Revenue mint, this coin is extremely common - 50 cents to $1, identified.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
594 Posts |
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New Member
 United States
4 Posts |
Thanks for your quick reply...really appreciate it.
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Moderator
Australia
16810 Posts |
The coin is known as a "cash" in English - qian or ch'ien in Chinese. Since large multiple-cash coins were occasionally made, this could be further qualified as a "1 cash". Monetarily, it is also known in Chinese as a "wen", from which were derived the names for similar coins made in Korea (won), Japan (mon or mun) and Vietnam (van or phan).
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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New Member
United States
2 Posts |
I figured it might be best to add onto this thread... as I have almost the exact same situation, and a darn similar coin. http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/674/coinf.jpghttp://img406.imageshack.us/img406/2333/coin2.jpgI saw a great response above, and was hoping I could get some of the same great answers! Thanks guys! P.S., on a side note... my grandma had a huge jar full of old pennies... many wheat stock pennies... I grabbed the only steel penny I saw... and it's 1943... But I would not be surprised if there was some big dollar pennies in there after seeing a list of the prices... lol, back then I didn't know a 'copper' penny could be worth so much. |
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Moderator
Australia
16810 Posts |
Hello and welcome.
Your coin is not quite as old as the one posted earlier. It's machine-struck, from the province of Kwangtung. This type was struck 1890-1908. Very common, proabbly about the same price as the previous one.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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New Member
United States
18 Posts |
Ok, I just found a coin in my "don't know" pile that matches Mike D's photos, the symbols look exactly the same. The center has the square lines, but the hole is circle. Does that mean anything?
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New Member
United States
2 Posts |
Thank you Sap! That makes perfect sense, as my great grandfather was roaming asian countries in the navy during that time frame.. My grandma had a bunch of trinkets and furniture from that period as well.
If I'd only known to look for different pennies, I'd probably be rich! hahaha
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
560 Posts |
The writing is not symbols, but words. The top and bottom character is the Emperors names and the two on the sode are tong at the right and bao at the left. And the chinese refered to is Mandarin.
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Valued Member
Canada
480 Posts |
The Chinese is read top-bottom-right-left, and is characters. Mandarin is a spoken Chinese language.(Dao Guang is a Mandarin transliteration, Tao Kuang is the older Wade-Gyles transliteration, but both mean the same thing.) The language on the reverse is Manchu,(transliterated as Boo Ciowan) read left-right.
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Valued Member
United States
59 Posts |
Daoguangs are very cheap, so not worth even collecting imo.
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Replies: 12 / Views: 76,231 |
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Posted 09/26/2011 10:14 pm
