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Identification Help Needed For Asian Piece (Id: Japanese Charm)

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chequer's Avatar
Canada
4227 Posts
 Posted 09/20/2018  12:00 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add chequer to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
A member at our local coin club was looking for information on the below coin (token/medal?). I told him I'd post here for him as he's older and not internet savvy. The more info the better! Thanks


Identification-Help-Needed-For-Asian-Piece-Id:-Japanese-Charm


Identification-Help-Needed-For-Asian-Piece-Id:-Japanese-Charm
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chequer's Avatar
Canada
4227 Posts
 Posted 09/20/2018  12:01 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add chequer to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Oh, the photo was the best I could get with my iPad. In hand, it's a normal brass colour.
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United States
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 Posted 09/20/2018  12:59 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Albert to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I don't know what this is, but my guess it may be some sort of Japanese trinket or novelty item or tourist gift shop item.
Perhaps wrong, but that's my first impression.
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chequer's Avatar
Canada
4227 Posts
 Posted 09/20/2018  1:46 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add chequer to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
That was my initial impression too. I'd just like to have more to give him as to its use or a translation of the characters.
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Crazyb0's Avatar
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United States
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 Posted 09/20/2018  8:47 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Albert to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I had a hunch and found the symbols may be Japanese versions of the symbols for the Eight Trigrams
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Sap's Avatar
Australia
16817 Posts
 Posted 09/20/2018  10:50 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Sap to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It's certainly a "good luck charm" of some kind. The circular "waves" on the side with six characters are similar to thaose seen on Japanese cash coins, so I suspect it may be Japanese in origin. The characters, however, are Chinese (which as kanji can also be used to write Japanese).

In the top pic, the characters are (in Chinese) "Fu Bao", meaning "lucky coin".

In the lower pic, the six characters are "Shan ben da, shan tian cheng", which transliterates to "mountain root great, mountain field success". If I had to translate that, in the context of a lucky charm, I would render it as "as great as the roots of the mountains, so successful will be your harvest". It might also be significant that "shan ben" becomes "Yamamoto" in Japanese, while "shan tian" becomes "Yamada" - two very common Japanese surnames.
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 09/20/2018  11:05 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Albert to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
When I first saw "mountain" and "great" on the coin that's what made me think of the 8 trigrams. And that makes a connection to luck, wealth, happiness and so on.
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Canada
4227 Posts
 Posted 09/21/2018  08:08 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add chequer to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks very much. He'll be very happy to receive this information.
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