I'm not much of a real coin collector, I just collect what I occasionally find. Most of my coins are not that old... from the 20th century and some from the 19th. I can recognize most of them, but there are a few I have a vague idea about, so that's why I'm here. I'll start with the Chinese coins. All the Chinese coins I have come directly from China, I bought them in various provinces while traveling in China. I know for sure most of them should be fakes and I don't even have doubts about them being fakes because they look fake or because they cost me pennies. The trouble is I cannot remember how much I payed for them nor when and where exactly I bought them, but I hope some of them should be genuine. I have three big Chinese coins with a square in the middle that kinda look like traditional feng-shui coins and I haven't seen anything like it on the web. So hopefully you can help me. Here are the photographs: My questions are: 1. Do they look real? How do I recognize a fake? 2. What coins are these? 3. What would they be worth?
welcome :hail: Welcome to coin talk and i hope you injoy They do not look like they are fake but i am not very good at these i had a thread like this a week or so ago. Manymore may be able to help you Dave
Your three "coins" are not actually coins but "charms" which is why you may have had a problem in trying to identify them. Based on your images, I would agree with your suspicions that they are "fakes". I cannot give you rules on how to determine "real" from "fake" because it really comes down to experience. The best teacher is the experience of examining hundreds or thousands of authentic old Chinese coins, although even the top experts are sometimes deceived. Without going into great detail, the base metal, patina, calligraphy, and wear patterns of your charms are just "not right". But I find charms, even modern ones, fascinating. Your first charm has the Chinese inscription "jia qing tong bao" which was found on coins cast during the reign of Emperor Ren Zong (1796-1820) of the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty (1644-1911). The reverse side has some interesting symbols. At the top, if you ignore the "X" or "cross", there are seven dots connected by a zigzag line representing the "Big Dipper" constellation. The "X" or "cross" is rarely seen on charms but it is seen on the reverse side of some Qing dynasty coins. It's exact meaning is still unclear but it may represent the number "4" in an ancient Chinese form of numbering system known as "rod numerals". (If you are interested, I give a little more detail and some examples at Emergence of Chinese Charms.) At the right of the square hole is a "star" and to the left is a "moon". Below the square hole is a tortoise with a snake entwined around it representing Xuanwu. Your other two charms are essentially the same. Both have the inscription "dao guang tong bao" which was found on coins cast during the reign of Emperor Xuan Zong (1821-1850) also of the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty. The reverse sides have the inscription "tian xia tai ping" which can translate as "peace under heaven". (Further information can be found at Peace Coins and Charms.) I cannot really tell you what your charms are "worth" but they are certainly not old and not rare. Please do not feel disappointed that your charms are not "real". Unlike coins, charms are not money but serve a different purpose. They have a mystical and symbolic meaning to people. Just because they are not old does not detract from this. So, when it comes to charms, I personally do not think in terms of "real" and "fake". Instead, I evaluate charms as "older" and "less old", and "well made" and "less well made". Hope you find the above helpful, and welcome to the forum! Gary
Thank you Gary for your detailed answer, I've got no more questions regarding these coins now! It opens a whole new view on them now. I've explored your site a little bit reading about "charms" - very interesting indeed, I will do some further reading later. I'm not disappointed about them not being proper currency coins, in fact I will probably regard them as good-luck coins now. Cheers!
collect genuine chinese coins are very complicated. too many varieties and not standardized. and also too many fake.
From my view, these three are chinese charms, while should be fake that means they were made in modern time.
