Posted 01/01/2012 01:49 am
It's a bit older than 10x loupe said. It's in the name of the Qian Long emperor (1735-1796), cast at the Board of Revenue mint. Rotate both the pics 90 degrees anticlockwise to make them "right way up".
Cash coins do not bear dates, so narrowing down the date any further than "sometime between 1735 and 1796" requires careful attention to detail, particularly the writing style. If my reading of my Hartill catalogue is correct, this type dates from roughly 1775-1781. It also tells me that at the time, the Board of Revenue mint was divided into four "branches", and this coin comes from the West Branch. Hartill reference number is 22.221. On the rarity scale which Hartill uses where 1 is extremely rare and 16 is extremely common, your coin is rated at 16, I'm sorry, so despite it's age, it's not going to be worth very much. A very typical "Chinese coins - $2 each" type of coin.
Cash coins do not bear dates, so narrowing down the date any further than "sometime between 1735 and 1796" requires careful attention to detail, particularly the writing style. If my reading of my Hartill catalogue is correct, this type dates from roughly 1775-1781. It also tells me that at the time, the Board of Revenue mint was divided into four "branches", and this coin comes from the West Branch. Hartill reference number is 22.221. On the rarity scale which Hartill uses where 1 is extremely rare and 16 is extremely common, your coin is rated at 16, I'm sorry, so despite it's age, it's not going to be worth very much. A very typical "Chinese coins - $2 each" type of coin.
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
Although it is a common coin, I am glad to know what it is and I already stuck it in a coin holder with that information. I like it a whole lot more now thanks to you. It is probably one of my oldest coins I have so it will lead the line up in my China row of my world type coin collection. I think I have about 300 world type coins in 2x2's.
