Need A Hand Deciphering Chinese (?) Charm

There is a nice website I've used for dating Japanese coins. They also have dating info on Chinese (and many other countries). I don't think we are supposed to post links? I need to read up on that part of the forum rules.

But in the mean time, just do a web search for "Creounity Time Machine"

Ahhh...I didn't think about none of them being numerals.

Yes, wouldn't a visual translator be wonderful? But then about half the posts to this forum would end! haha

Such visual translators actually do already exist! I have one for non-kanji Japanese, but I must say it is absolutely atrocious. I believe it only guessed 10 of the 100 I tested correctly. That being said, give them some more time, they'll improve I hope.

But who needs visual translators when you have human ones? ;) This charm (I use this term loosely) in Chinese actually reads "Jing Xing Tong Bao". Having collected some Asian cash for a while I feel semi-confident saying that this charm was actually based of of a Vietnamese cash coin, with a similar inscription. This is one of the most common cash types ever issued, between 1740 and 1786, and genuine examples are widely available. I must admit not having that much knowledge on charms, but the reference books will often come in the same lots as the ones on regular cash, so I have a tiny library those. Your type is not listed in Karl Petit's work, nor that of Remmelts or Fonahn. Which is not that surprising, seeing that they focus mostly on Chinese and Japanese charms.

But I don't think you need to be an expert to form your opinion about this one; I think it is quite an obvious fake, or as you put it, not a very old one. The reverse doesn't even look that bad, quite like something that would be a genuine period piece (which is why I think it may have been based on an existing type). But the obverse calligraphy is .. well. atrocious, especially on the "Thong" and the "Xing" character. Apparently, a lot of these semi-fake charms were made during the Vietnam war, for soldiers to take home as souvenirs. Not only fake charms were made by the way; nearly every type that can be thought of was produced; knives, spades, round cash, "modern" cash, silver dollars, you name it, and often of very poor quality. Which is why some numismatist began to specifically refer to these as "Vietnam war-era fakes".

Might I ask where you acquired this?

Mika

This is the great part about this site. As Mika mentioned, we have human translators at our disposal all the time on CCF. I think the fact that our community is world-wide is one of the best things about CCF.

Google can translate from a picture. There are online dictionaries where you actually draw the character then pick whatever match comes up. Copy that character and paste it into Google Translate and it often confirms and tells you the word. Or at least points you into the right direction. When you draw the character into the other mentioned online dictionary, be careful how you draw. You will get about 12 or 16 or 20 possibles based on how well you did or did not draw. Select the closest match that makes sense to you and go from there.

If you are using Google Translate on a smart phone with camera on, it can translate the text on the images directly...