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 Replies: 8 / Views: 2,021 |
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Moderator
 Australia
16827 Posts |
The Xi Xia Empire was an ethnic Tangut nation in what is now northwestern China. After being conquered by the Chinese in the 800's, they maintained semi-independence until they formally seceded in 1038. Xi Xia remained independent until Genghis Khan wiped them out in the early 1200's.  This coin is a copper cash of Emperor Ren Zong during his Tian Sheng era (1149-1171). Coins of Xi Xia are scarce; this is the cheapest and most readily available of the dozen or so catalogued types, and I've never seen one for sale (from a relatively trustworthy source) until I spotted this one. 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
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Forum Dad
United States
24156 Posts |
Interesting, there's even a few in eBay stores. Never heard of it. |
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
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Moderator
 United States
6563 Posts |
Very cool!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
I don't know, I'm a little hesitant to go out and buy one right now as an example of an 'x' country; I still remember when Beijing started with 'p.' What if they change this one on us?
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Pillar of the Community
Philippines
606 Posts |
It's a gift from the heavens for a very considerate person like you are, Sir.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
Sap - About a week and a half ago, I authenticated and attempted to price a small collection of about 250 foreign coins for a local dealer. He was negotiating with a widow to buy the group. I was focused primarily on the authenticity of the silver and gold coins (very few of which were at all suspicious based on my microscopic analysis and Specific Gravity - no counterfeits at all) but the collection included two of these Xi Xia Empire cast coins. The attributions on the envelopes were done by the husband and they were exceptionally accurate for all the rest of the Chinese and Vietnamese (Annam) pieces for which I had reference books. The collection dated to the 1950s and 1960s and included many very nice pieces. The man who put the set together had very ecclectic tastes that ran from Middle-ages English hammered pennies to early 1960s commemoratives.
My real question is how valuable are these two particular coins likely to be? The dealer's partner told me yesterday that he had negotiated a purchase of the entire collection, based on the value I set for rest of the coins. So since I could not price these 2 coins I believe he used a $10 per coin amount as a "guess-timate". I would like to give him a better feel for the value if you know. Both cast coins fit in a standard 2x2 envelope and they were larger than a typical cash coin - more like 10 cash - over 30mm. I didn't take pictures so I can't be sure of anything other than I wrote Xi Xia in my notes. He also had a coin attributed to Genghis Khan a smaller copper about 20 mm which I also had problems pricing. These coins all had nice tight patinas that did not release under typical solvents that I use to check for forgeries using "black goop". They had a real appearance of age. They had been oiled by the owner at some time, but there was no damage.
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Moderator
 Australia
16827 Posts |
Swamperbob: the Tian Sheng Yuan Bao type I've shown above is the cheapest and commonest type of Xi Xia coin, though it's still scarcer than typical contemporary Chinese types. It's listed in Jen (2000 edition) as #425, CV $10 in VG, $30 in VF, with a side note that says it comes in copper and iron varieties, with iron being scarcer. However, these are "normal sized" cash coins; all the larger Xi Xia 2 cash types are listed as "rare", and there's nothing listed over 27mm.
The types of the early Yuan dynasty, attributed to Genghis Khan, aren't cheap nor common; the commonest, the small Da Chao Tong Bao, lists at $300 in VG, $600 in VF.
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
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Moderator
Australia
16827 Posts |
Augbauer: thanks.  quote:
HABIB noted:
I don't know, I'm a little hesitant to go out and buy one right now as an example of an 'x' country; I still remember when Beijing started with 'p.' What if they change this one on us?
Absolutely. Under the old Wade-Giles romanization, this country was known as the "Hsi Hsia Empire". But I figure, as long as I'm consistent, then it still counts as an "X". I try to apply the Pinyin system, as favoured by the current regime in China, universally across my collection. Incidentally, I just recently acquired a second "X country". It's not a coin, and it's not even technically a country, but it's going in my database as an "X place": a notgeld note from Xanten, a city in western Germany. The city proudly boasts to being "the only city in Germany starting with X".  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
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Posted 11/27/2007 2:07 pm
