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Help Identifying Chinese Cash Coins

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swollibman's Avatar
New Zealand
48 Posts
 Posted 12/26/2014  12:39 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add swollibman to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Hi everyone

I've had these coins sitting around for ages, but I know absolutely nothing about them and I finally decided it would be nice to identify and display them.

If anyone could tell me anything about them it would be appreciated.
I'm guessing the one on the top left is a modern souvenir/replica.

Apologies if any of the coins are upside down or around the wrong way!
Some of them might be a bit hard to read - can do a bigger photo if necessary

Help-Identifying-Chinese-Cash-Coins
Help-Identifying-Chinese-Cash-Coins
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Medieval's Avatar
3772 Posts
 Posted 12/26/2014  01:16 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Medieval to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Yes, you are right, the top left one is a modern copy milled in the millions for tourist and as good luck charm.
All the others look genuine and are from the last (Ch'ing) dynasty.
The top right one is from emperor Sheng Tsu (1662-1722) and belongs to the so-called talisman series, it was minted in Lin-Ching, Shantung.
All the others are from emperor Kao Tsung (1736-1795). The bottom picture tell you the mint.
The two in the middle on top are from Chihli province, as is the right one on the bottom (the only picture which is the wrong way round). The other three are from the Board of Revenue mint in Peking.
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swollibman's Avatar
New Zealand
48 Posts
 Posted 12/26/2014  01:57 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add swollibman to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks so much for your help, Medieval.

Ahh, so the symbols refer to dynasties, emperors and mints - how interesting! I would like to learn more about Chinese coins.

The Sheng Tsu coin is the oldest in my collection, and my only coin from the 17th century.
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Medieval's Avatar
3772 Posts
 Posted 12/26/2014  04:53 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Medieval to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
so the symbols refer to dynasties, emperors and mints


Apart from some older ones, cash coins have 4 symbols on the obverse. Mostly they are read top, bottom, left then right - as all here, but some are read clockwise from the top.
The first two characters indicate the reign title, which is different from the name of the emperor and could change during the reign. The other two characters indicate what type of money it is. (For yours those two characters are the same on all coins.) At the beginning of the Ch'ing dynasty coins were sometimes inscribed with different characters on the reverse, like your top left coin which has both a Mongol and a Chinese character indication the mint. Later it were always two Mongol characters, the one on the left saying 'mint' and the one on the right indicating the specific mint.

Let me add that there are different transliteration systems used for Chinese characters. While I use the old one (which eg says 'Peking' for the capital), 'manymore' who is THE resident expert on Chinese coins uses the modern one (eg 'Beijing' for the capital).
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Petrus's Avatar
Belgium
2895 Posts
 Posted 12/27/2014  02:12 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Petrus to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
@Mediƫval:
Reading the coin: isn't is top-bottom-right-left?
example from Krause:
Help-Identifying-Chinese-Cash-Coins
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Medieval's Avatar
3772 Posts
 Posted 12/27/2014  6:33 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Medieval to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Reading the coin: isn't is top-bottom-right-left?


Thanks for the correction 'Petrus', Freudian slip or tiredness (late night, see the time-difference).

Yes, all those are read top-bottom-right-left - there are some earlier ones which are read clockwise from the top, but that doesn't apply to those pictured.
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