4 Chinese Empire Cash Coins To Id,

Thanks for that link TypeCoin. Gives me something to work on.

These are all reproductions, I'm afraid. The Manchu word "boo" (mint) on the left of the reverses is badly written on all of them, and the characters "tong bao" on the obverses of coin 2 and 3 are identical - not just similar, but identical - and that shouldn't be the case for coins allegedly made for different emperors.

Yes, all the coins are poor quality fakes.

However, the top coin is not a "complete fantasy".

Authentic examples of this "Value Five" coin exist. Mr Ma Dingxiang (e©¬å®šç¥¥), one of the most famous Chinese numismatists of the 20th Century, has four rubbings of the coin in his book on the coins of the Xianfeng Emperor.

Two of the coins are "ancestor coins" (ç¥-eŒ¢), one is a "mother coin" (æ¯�eŒ¢), and one is a "trial coin" (æ ·eŒ¢).

None of these coins were made to circulate although the "trial coin" certainly could have.

All the coins are extremely rare and considered priceless.

Incidentally, Mr. Ma Dingxiang collected many priceless coins such as the one described in this article.

Also, David Hartill refers to this "Value Five" coin in his book as "designs not adopted".

Gary

I'm afraid I do not understand the reference to "FD" and "22.689". Please clarify.

Mr. Ma Dingxiang passed away in 1991 before he was able to complete his book on Xianfeng coins. His son completed the manuscript and the book was published in 1994. The book includes the rubbings of more than 4,000 varieties of Xianfeng coins.

The rubbings were collected over many years and from many collectors. The book does not attribute the rubbings to individual collectors.

Therefore, it is unclear whether Mr. Ma owned the coin in question or not.

Before his death, he donated a good part of his collection to various museums.

After his death, part of his collection was sold at a China Guardian auction in June, 2006.

I checked the coins sold at the Guardian auction but the only Xianfeng Value 5 coin sold was this one. Of course, this is a different variety and not the coin in question.

Therefore, I do not know where the coin is at this time. It may be in a museum or it may be in private hands.

Regarding the "Great Dictionary", the only volume of Qing Dynasty coins so far published is the one on Qing Dynasty struck copper coins. As far as I know, no volumes on Qing Dynasty cash coins have been published as yet.

Gary