Before I start to do photos is why I'm asking. I have a small collection of 13 brass Cash coins that I acquired when I had my paper route in 1966. These came to me as a gift from 3 little old ladies who had run a home for orphans during the depression. One of them, who lost a husband early said that her husband had been a missionary in China in the 1920's and brought them back home with him in the 1930's. She gave them to me as a Christmas gift. I have the Krause books but I'm pretty lame in trying to identify these as the pics in the books are not good enough for me. Would anyone be willing to give these a shot? If so, I will attempt to do some photos, a few at a time, so as not to overwhelm anyone. Thanks in advance. Tom
I'm not an expert, but I have done some collecting in Chinese and other cash coins, and I can recognize most of the more common types (or at least can look them up in the book). I'd be willing to take a shot at these.
#3 should be tilted 90 degrees to the left to have the characters right-side-up. but that's all i know
Here's my IDs, I welcome any corrections. All your coins are Qing, or Manchu, dynasty, the last dynasty to rule China before it became a Republic in 1912. The mint marks on Qing dynasty cash reverses are in Manchu script, except on some earlier coins which have it in both Manchu and standard Chinese, like your coin 3. 1. (coin should be rotated clockwise 90 degrees) Qianlong (1736-1796), Board of Revenue mint in Beijing. 2. (reverse side is shown first) Guangxu (1875-1908), Guangdong province mint. Note that this coin is actually machine-struck on modern equipment, but still follows the ancient design of cast coins from the previous 2000 years. 3. (rotate counterclockwise 90 degrees) Kangxi (1661-1722), Tung-ch'uan in Yunnan province. 4. (rotate counterclockwise 90 degrees) Xianfeng (1851-1861) looks like Board of Public Works in Beijing but I'm not sure due to the poor condition. 5. (rotate obverse 180 degrees) Jiaqing (1796- 1820), Shaanxi province. Nothing valuable here, at least in resale terms, but these coins have seen a lot of history, and the personal worth to you is incalculable. Please post more when you get a chance, I enjoy figuring these out.
Bless your heart for your kindness and hard work. That's a lot of info and I most surely appreciate it. I would not have even known where to start as I don't even know how to orientate them correctly. And yes, they will stay with me for the long term. All three of those little old ladies, Mrs. Tinker, Mrs. Heulett, and Mrs. Barnum all lost their husbands long before their time. They were wonderful to visit and talk to about their good old days, which were not actually so good. I helped them every spring with their gardens as they also bought vegetable seeds from me. American Seed Company) from the ads in the comics during the 60's. They were all born in the late 1800's and lived until the 70's.
#2 also looks like a planchet error, this was more common in Chinese coins as the materials used when what could be found or afforded. On some occasions they even minted coins over old Korean and other coins. you can see several examples in the Post your China Empire coins tab.
