These certainly aren't the typical run-of-the-mill mix of common Qing Dynasty coins and replicas you usually see in a "Chinese cash coins - $2 each" bin. Most of these are more in the $5-$10 range. And they're not all Chinese.
Pic 1/2
Top left: This one is actually Japanese. They used this same inscription (Kan Ei Tsu Ho in Japanese) for several hundred years; the character on the reverse might help date/ID it but I can't make it out.
Bottom left: this one is one of the cheap common Qing types, Qian Long, Yunnan Province mint. Your pic's upside down.
Centre top, centre bottom and bottom right: Tang Dynasty, Kai Yuan tong bao coins. These were struck for nearly 300 years, from AD 621 to 907. The reverse marks on the two bottom coins add interest and variety to the series, but not much additional value.
Top right: This one is Ming Dynasty - not an easy Dynasty to obtain, compared to the Qing and Song. This one is Hong Wu (AD 1368-1398).
Pic 3/4
Top left: Exactly the same as Pic1/2 bottom left.
Bottom left: this pic's upside-down too, but this one is another Song Dynasty coin, from the Yuan Feng period (AD 1078-1085) of emperor Shen Zong. It is curiously off-centre; I do not know if this would add to the value or detract from it, but it is a fairly common coin in any event.
Top and bottom right: these two are from Korea; these Sang Pyong Tong Bo coins, like the coins of Japan and of Tang Dynasty CHina, were struck for a very long time over multiple rulers, and from a bewildering variety of mints. These two, given their size, are probably 2-mun coins, but I can;t clearly read the mintmarks on the reverse to ID them further.
Pic 5/6 - most of these are machine-struck 10 cash (or 1 cent) coins. They can be found in the 20th century Krause catalogue, though it's easy to get lost amongst the provinces. Numbering from top left:
Coin 1: Empire, general issue, cyclical-date converts to 1906. KM/Y 10.2
Coin 2: Republic, general issue, undated, something like KM/Y 307.
Coin 3: The only "cash coin" on this pic. It's another Song Dynasty piece, this time it's from the Tian Sheng period (1023-1031) of the emperor Ren Zong. THis one is the "long legs on Bao character" variety, which is slightly scarcer than the other three varieties of this coin listed in the Hartill catalogue.
Coin 4 (far right): Empire, Kiangsi Province, undated, KM/Y 150.4 or similar.
Coin 5: Empire. Sorry, but you've forgotten to turn this one over between pics 5 and 6. We can't see the other side.
Coin 6: Republic, Honan Province, undated, KM/Y A392.1
Coin 7: Republic, Szechuan Province, dated Year 1 of the Republic (1912), brass variety, KM/Y 447a
Hope this helps.
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
Posted 06/21/2014 1:00 pm
