Chinese coin dug in TN woods

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by whithill, Jan 6, 2013.

  1. whithill

    whithill New Member

    You all have been so helpful with my mystery coins in the past; thought I'd try again. Dug this today in woods near my home in East Nashville. My very cursory research tells me it's Chinese. Any other clues as to entity and date? Thanks! Whit

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  3. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    Chien Lung era, ie 1736-1796 and one of the Government mints in Beijing, a pretty common coin that is worth about a quarter but that as a find in TN is worth more for the story behind how it got there and was found. I know these things get dug up on the west coast and they were brought over by workers from China and subsequently lost.
     
  4. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    Gao Zong 1736-95 AD (Quian Long tong bao) Board of Revenue 1778-83 AD - just an amateur guess - confirm or correct anyone?
     
  5. whithill

    whithill New Member

    Wow, thanks! I'm really surprised. I was sure you were going to tell it was from some World's Fair or something. Very cool. People have been walking through this area (and dropping stuff) for a long time. Love it.
     
  6. John Anthony

    John Anthony Ultracrepidarian

    Chinese immigrants built large portions of the railroad network in the 19th-century. I wouldn't be surprised to find coins like this - they had no monetary value in the US, so they probably weren't guarded like real money unless they had sentimental value.
     
  7. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Any Chinese restaurants in East Nashville Whithill? :devil:
     
  8. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Or it could just be from a jerk like me. They are very cheap coins.

    I have been known to throw ancient roman coins in national historical sites, lol.
     
  9. KoinJester

    KoinJester Well-Known Member

    I have family just west of Nashville in Fairview.
     
  10. scottishmoney

    scottishmoney Buh bye

    I need to follow you around.
     
  11. Jwt708

    Jwt708 Well-Known Member

    :eek:ff-topic:
    One day, not long from now, the History Channel will run a special about the Romans in the New World because of you and they'll base their evidence on the presence of these coins at historical sites and unusual interpretations of Roman mythology. (Makes me think about runic graffiti found at a Indian site they did an episode on...don't get me started!!!!)

    Also, if you feel like dispersing any Roman coins my way... :)

    :eek:ff-topic:
     
  12. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    It happens all of the time. Heck, they legitimately found ancient Roman coins in US harbors and a few dimwitted historians tried to postulate how the Romans sailed here. The truth was that when ships in Europe take on ballast, sometimes there would be roman coins in the ballast material. Remember that a lot of the ancient coastline is now underwater, (and a lot is now miles inland). Shorelines change all of the time.

    The OP's coin COULD have been dropped by a chinese laborer, or its just as likely dropped more recently. These cash coins were cast by the tens of billions, and all were in circulation until after WWII in China and all of SE Asia. If you added up all lincoln cents produced versus cash coins, I am not sure which would be more numerous.
     
  13. Jwt708

    Jwt708 Well-Known Member

    Whatever ;)

    When I see a show on the History Channel about Ancient Romans discovering the New World I'm going to think you caused that.

    :)

    Great info also.
     
  14. whithill

    whithill New Member

    You guys are funnee. I've enjoyed messing up science too, tho not with coins. My husband travels abroad frequently and I sometimes give him American things like Lake Michigan Petoskey stones to put in unexpected places. Interestingly, I found this coin within about 30 feet of a Civil War-era bullet and part of a 1964 cap gun.

    Curious: How do you all know it's from that era (1700s)? Is there a date on it? Is there a place I could find out what the characters mean?
     
  15. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Calgarycoin.com has a good section on identifying Chinese cash coins. I use Hartill's book on Cast Chinese Coins.

    What is interesting to me at least is how the obverse is written in Chinese, but the reverse is written in Manchu. Manchu was the language of the foreign rulers who ruled China in the Ching dynasty. Must have a tremendous affront to the ethnic Chinese to have the foreign rulers names on their coins. It would be like if Quebec conquered the US and made our coins have French on one side of them.
     
  16. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    ...or what if some French guy sailed to England and Conquered (his name is usually given as William The Conqueror) or some Europeans sailed to North America and decided they owned everything they saw. I'd feel sorry for the losers in most such transactions but many of them got the territory they lost in much the same way just displacing an earlier set of residents. I believe the term used for this is 'history'. Sometimes it is done quickly with guns and sometimes slowly by outnumbering them with immigrants and killing them off with smallpox. Do your studies. When did being Italian stop being a benefit for being Roman Emperor?
     
  17. John Anthony

    John Anthony Ultracrepidarian

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