Can anyone identify this coin? I bought it at a flea market for $3. I'm not sure of the alloy but it might contain some silver. Thanks.
The first image, which I will refer to as the obverse, has 5 Chinese characters. Ignoring the character in the center for the moment, the inscription is read in a different order than most Chinese coins. The inscription, in this case, is read left to right and top to bottom as san huang wu di which translates as "Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors". The Chinese character in the middle is tu which means "portrait". This "coin" is, therefore, one of a set of coins which displays portraits of very famous mythical rulers from the very dawn of Chinese history. The reverse side of your coin shows a portrait labeled with the Chinese characters Tang Yao. Tang Yao (usually referred to as Yao or Emperor Yao) lived around 2300 BC and was extolled by Confucius, among others, as one of the great moral "sage-kings". A complete collection of these coins would presumably consist of 8 coins with one for each member of the "Three Sovereigns" (Fuxi, Nuwa, Shennong) and the "Five Emperors" (Yellow Emperor, Zhuanxu, Ku, Yao, Shun). These coins are clearly of modern production. They are not "coins" in the sense of currency but rather are to meant to honor legendary Chinese rulers. Gary
