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 Replies: 27 / Views: 3,595 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
604 Posts |
Yea, I had something else envisioned in my mind. The string definitely wasn't white when I pictured it. Looks more like the string was used just as a method to keep them together. I also didn't think there would be so many coins on the string either.
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Valued Member
 Canada
292 Posts |
The coins have been in the family for 150 years. The stringing of the coins happened sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s I think. There's still sentimental value to them for me and I think they're sorted by period (hence the knots?)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
I would have no qualms about removing them from the string if it was done 30-40 years ago or even anytime in the last 100 years. If it means a lot to you take a picture and keep the string in a ziplock in the album with them. The string did not originate from the same period of time.
It would be like if your grand kids couldn't decide wheter to take the coins out of your flips and submit some for grading and placed in slab. They look cool though looks like you will be able to have fun working with them.
Edited by Bertensgrad
03/17/2015 11:58 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Aluminium is a far more reactive metal than copper or bronze.
So why does it not corrode when exposed?
It has to do with the fact that bare aliminuim is so reactive, that it instantly forms a very protective oxide surface layer on contact with the atmosphere. This atomically thin oxide layer protects the metal underneath. That is why aluminium is perfectly safe to use in aircraft structures.
For this reason aluminium foil is really of no use at all in protecting coins. It is not sacrificial in protecting coins. It may provide some mechanical protection, depending on how the string of coins is wrapped.
Just wrap the string of coins in acid free tissue paper and place in a clip lock polyethylene bag. Include silica gel if you feel that is important, in a humid climate.
Since the coins are in direct contact with each other. wrapping the string of them in tissue paper is optional only. You could do equally as well by just excluding as much air from the bag as you can.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2815 Posts |
Can we see close up pictures of some of the coins? There are a LOT of fake Chinese coins out there too.
Edited by Darth Morgan
03/18/2015 10:12 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
I was leaning towards taking the coins off the string. Now after seeing the picture I wouldn't hesitate for one minute to take them off. I was picturing something like a dirty old string, maybe with dirt on it from being buried, hand woven from flax, maybe dyed red or green, taut but frayed from age, leaving an un-toned line down the rims of the coins where it had been for centuries.
I could go down to Home Depot and get a rope like that, cut it and catalog the coins.
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Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
im with everyone else I was picturing 10 or so coins on a hand made string that someone would have worn to the market and maybe used it to buy something from your relatives. that looks like 1/8in nylon rope done in the last 30 years to me. id definitely take it off and observe the coins. I dont know of a good place to research old chinese coins myself though
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
I was also disappointed to see a 'modern' string instead of something that looked age-appropriate.
So taking the coins off is no big deal.
If they were strung in similar groups then just preserve the groupings to make your research easier.
2 X 2 cardboard holders or plastic flips would be the easiest storage solution.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
Yeah, that's definitely modern string. Certainly nothing like I expected.
I would've probably kept them if the string was old, but this one is certainly not old, and probably wouldn't last a century.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
If the string is modern, remove it.
Examine all of the coins closely for attribition for emperor, reign name, issuer, mint etc.
Put them all in cardboard / mylar 2x2's and write up the attributions on the holder. Arrange the coins in rough date order, according to reign title and mint.
House the 2x2's in anachival quality 20 pocket album pages.
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Valued Member
United States
309 Posts |
The few coin sides visible despite the "nylon string" appear to be "recent" Ching Dynasty, but still 150 years old, so the family story is supported by the few coin sides we see. Show us a sample of the coins with the four characters on one side only. If convenient, two of the opposing characters on the four character side say the same thing "Cash Money" in Chinese. If you can identify among the coins those same two characters across different coins align them accordingly. The other two characters differ by ruler. Look for all the different "alternate" ruler character sets and show us some of each type you have to get a better reading of the tea leaves about these coins in the manner of a coin hoard. If you have coins from a really large time span (in China we are talking in terms of millennia) the coins get thicker and more cast-like, rather than smoothly struck, with antiquity. Coins with characters on both sides, like U.S. coins with mint marks come from recent branch mints. They range over the ages in value compared to Mandarin silver from about 1000 - 1500 to the silver piece-of-eight as a typical exchange rate during the Ching Dynasty. Keep them in the family as a conversation starter for the next generation who may not remember a time when coins circulated so much.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
767 Posts |
It wouldn't really matter to me how old or new the string is. If I had this, I wouldn't want it all balled up in a ziplock bag, or in tissue paper.
I would get a glass case large enough for the string to lay at rest in comfortably. Put the thing in the case. Add some other old Asian style art stuff, and then put it on a mantle as an art piece.
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Replies: 27 / Views: 3,595 |
First Page
Posted 03/17/2015 11:11 pm
