Asian Coins

The good news is that they look to be genuine - though it's hard to tell from the pictures.

The less good news is that most of these coins are very common - say £1 each. Some might be worth a little more - but I wouldn't bank on it - even Chinese coins from the Sung period - which some of these appear to be from (about 800 years ago) are very very plentiful. I think I see a Tang period coin there too - even older - but again - extremely plentiful.

Medik98:

I used to buy these types of Chinese cash coins for 10 to 20 cents each around 30 years ago. I had not even the foggiest idea of what I was buying, but I bought a few hundred at that price, because even then, I thought they may be cheap.

I went through them carefully and kept the best of each type, identifying them by the minor variations in the calligraphy. Other than that, I still had no clue at all.

Later on, I bought a second hand copy of Schjoth's 'Chinese Currency', and properly identified them all. I had a lot of fun doing so. The properly attributed coins automatically doubled in market price.

These days, dealers sell them for $5 to $10 each for the common coins of the Ching (last) Dynasty. It is possible to buy Tang Dynasty coins, dating from the AD 600's for around $10 each as well.

The person who put your collection together obviously knew what they were, and because of their presentation, obviously appear to be all genuine. There are over 100 coins here, and with a little further attribution in English, the collection could easily be worth over $1000.

Even with the value I have indicated, it should not be forgotten that these coins were originally made in huge numbers. That is why it is possible to buy a 1400 year old Tang Dynasty cash coin in nice condition for as little as $10 now.

I think it is well worth keeping these coins together as they are now, because that helps to their claim to authenticity. If you are able to identify them yourself later on as I did, I would suggest that you draw up a mimic sheet over the coins, and write your attributions on that. In the meantime, keep them as they are in a stiff cliplock polythene bag, in a box.

Medik98: If you are considering selling ANY of them, first know what you are selling, especially if a prospective buyer wants to pick particular coins out.

Such behaviour by a prospective buyer telegraphs to me is that he may be trying to take advantage of your relative (to his) lack of knowledge, leaving you with the less valuable coins only.

To obtain a copy of Schjoth or other good references you may have to go to your local public library and borrow a copy from another library with an inter library loan.

Just this sort of situation arose for me a couple years ago when I was investigating some Roman coins. I needed to refer to a particular volume of
'Corpus Numorum Romanorum', by Banti and Simonetti, at our National Library in Canberra. They did not have the particular volume, and asked if I would like to refer to that book in the State Library of Western Australia, in Perth.

They were happy to transport the book on a 4000 mile return journey from Perth to Canberra.

My copy of Schjoth was originally owned in a public library in Portland Oregon.

I would just like to make two points.

One is that part of the value in your set is the way it is put together. If you were to take those coins, throw away the written notes and place them in 2x2s, they'd be less valuable (in my eyes, at least). If there are any letters or other written notes about the coins, you should include those. Just thought I'd mention this, as in my past ignorant & impulsive days I might have gotten rid of the packaging.

Second, you'll get a lot more detailed help if you can get better pictures of both sides of each coin. One way would be to get a camera on a tripod or somehow held steady, and then slide the coins into view one at a time. Another way may be to plop the whole sheet onto a scanner and take hi-resolution scans. Then with software you can separate the coins into individual files.

Are you able to read the characters on the coins? Some of our members are able to.

In the past I've liked this site for chinese coins, but with my last batch I came to like Calgary Coins website.

In my area, common (1700-1900) cash coins sell for $0.50-$2.00 each. That's about the extent of my pricing knowledge.

Impressive collection, I am envious!
-wheatiefan

I don't mean to be a wet blanket on what may actually be a spectacular find.

But ......


I need to do some checking in my files because I recall seeing a virtually identical set complete with stitched coins and handwritten notes on paper with a pinkish border on ebay within the last year or two. I may have saved the pictures because the seller was a well known forger from Hong Kong.

I will let you know if I saved the photos or if I can locate any other information.

I looked but was unable to find it.

It was a Roger Lee product from Hong Kong as I recall, but that is based on memory only. I do not always copy pictures of counterfeits of minors so I may have never copied it. But I do recall the odd pink color border. That is what sticks out most in my memory.

My uncle had a similar set of Cash running back 400 or 500 years sewn to a cardboard back with the names printed on it in black. So I know the real sets were available at one time fairly cheap.

Has anyone translated what the notes say in this case?

Actually - don't take them apart! If they're tied on with string, and in this fashion, most likely it won't be a very rare variety.

Can you take a clearer picture of the other words on the board (if any on the backsides?) This looks to be a pretty complete collection... I think the first board you showed us has all the Qianlong cash coins from all the mints.

Actually not so fast - I worked on a collection like this when I was at the ANA 2 summers ago. It was tied down with brass fastners which reacted with the coins, but they were also packaged very like this. However, that one had a pedigree from the Coole collection, so I wonder if these things were circulating in the Early Republic era (1910s, 1920s). Coole was an American teaching in China at the time.

Ok guys I've taken all your advice and still unable to find out much lol. I guess its because I really don't know what I'm doing. Does anybody know of a trustworthy good place around DC or Baltimore that I might be able to get these looked at? I've googled places but haven't really found anything yet. I just got an offer for $1700 for this collection from a place in Texas. The problem is Idk exactly what I have lol. Anyhow if anybody knows of a place in that area please let me know and ill contact them. Thanks again everybody.