Haven't had any luck figuring this one's country of origin or anything, but a friend told me that the Arabic looking writing is 'sanskrit'. After googling sanskrit I managed to find this site, if you folks can figure it out... :bow: I just hope it's not a token for an arcade!
I doubt an arcade token would actually use Sanskrit . If it's in fact Sanskrit, I'd start poking around for coins from India or Tibet or nearby. I looked briefly for Tibetian coins but didn't see much that looked like this. And what I did find took some digging. Hopefully someone else here can be more helpful than me.
to CoinTalk 67GTO. Pretty close. It appears to be a Chinese charm. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe your reverse photo (on the right) is upside down. IMHO the characters are not Sanskrit, they are Manchu, the language of the Chinese Imeperial Court, which wass used on many of the Chinese cash coins cast during the millenium (or so) before the 1912 overthrow of the Last Emperor.
I flipped the picture, it's also silver if that helps... satootoko: your answer has me wondering, would they use Manchu to give a charm that 'old world' feel - or could it actually be from that time period? And considering that your avatar is kind of similar, I have to ask - what is it?
67 GTO,this piece isn't silver.It looks like chromed brass.The reverse design is similar to the 'Old Man' silver Dollars from Taiwan,which were issued around 1840. Aidan.
Welcome 67GTO. That piece is a silver ingot commonly referred to as 'the chinese god of longevity(shou) silver cake'. It was issued by Taiwan during Dao Guang era of Qing dynasty, mainly to meet the military supplies' needs, soldier's rations and pay during the upheaval of 1834(Dao Guang year 14). Varieties exist in weight, design, diameter and additional character marks. On the reverse is definitely manchu script, with the top character 'tai' referring to Tai mint in Taiwan. You can weigh your coin, which should be around 26-27g.
Here's an example of a god of longevity silver piece... counter-stamped by merchants to verify its silver content... Somehow, the god of longevity's figure on 67GTO's piece looks better...
It is indeed listed in Coins of the World 1750-1850, 1971 Ed. (Craig) as C#25-3, an undated 1837 issue, valued at $150. The SCWC (Krause) uses the C# in lieu of a KM#, and gives some further information, calling it an "Old Man 'Dollar"and "Soldier's Pay"; with a weight of 26.80g. They also give an issue range of 1837-1845, and in this case I would be inclined to go with their research rather than rely on Craig. The weight is approximately the same as US silver dollars, Chinese Yuan, Japanese Yen, and other silver coins circulating in Asia during the middle and late 19th Century. You definitely need to get your coin authrnticated, as Krause values in the 2001 3rd Ed. go as high as $2,500 in XF, with a 10% premium for the lack of any chopmarks. Reportedly they normally have at least 2 chops on the reverse, at the lower left. I would like to forward your pictures to Krause for possible inclusion in later catalogs. The picture they have now is of a coin with more than a dozen ugly chops. If it's OK with you, please PM me with your full name so I can give you credit. BTW my avatar is the character "four" from the date on a Meiji-era Japanese 1 sen in my collection, showing a significant die break (the line between the box-shaped character and the rim).
67 GTO's piece has a very soapy appearance to it.When you see that,it is screaming,"I AM A FAKE!" Aidan.
It's bogus. J&M Coin didn't know (or care) what it was - the guy just shrugged and said it's an old Chinese coin, and that I should find someone who could read Chinese. BTW, this was the silver coin. Chantou International Coin & Stamp actually knew what it was at a glance, and pointed out that this coin had worn plating. One of his regular customers confirmed this and was able to read the writing. Apparently they're commonly sold as souvenirs in Chinatown. Some are silver (the one in my photo is), and some are just plated (like the one I happened to take with me today). I had the silver one weighed (on a postal scale) and was told it was 26g. Next time I'm there I'll get the plated one weighed... HTH. Now I'm gonna see if I can jam one into a parking meter! :whistle: j/k
