Chinese Coin With Square Hole

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

Chinese it certainly is, real it certainly is, and old it certainly is. It dates from the reign of the Qian Long emperor (1735-1796).

However, coins just like this are a perfect example of the maxim: "Not everything that is old is therefore valuable". The Qian Long emperor reigned for a very long time, over one of the largest and most populous countries on earth at a time when the Empire was rather prosperous. Literally billions of these coins were made, and many of them are still around. The coin dealers around here typically put their Chinese cash coins, unidentified, into a big bowl with a sign "Chinese Cash Coins - $2 each", and Qian Long coins are usually the majority of the coins in there.

Chinese fortune-seekers brought many of these coins with them from their homeland as they followed the gold rushes all over the world back in the 1800s, so they are often found in an archaeological context around old gold mining sites and settlements.