In my research, I’ve noticed that Kai Yuans are classified as early, middle, and late. I can’t seem to tell the difference between the types,There is also the matter of things like “hard” or “soft” left hooks. I understand that the left hook is on the Yuan character, but I do not know what the terms “hard” and “soft” are describing. Also, how do they date these? I know that later ones have mintmarks. I have also read that people use tombs to help date them. Thanks in advance. Here is mine. It has no special marks on the reverse. @TypeCoin971793 @Ken Dorney
This is a soft left hook: This is a strong left hook: The stylistic differences in the Yuan character allow the coins to be dated to certain time periods. I do not have my references with me, so I can’t tell you which characteristics beling with which time period.
The date and location of the tombs is often the best way to date the coins, other than the official records or the moulds themselves.
These are a confusing series of coins, and they often give me troubles. Attribution is based on certain components of the characters and their various combinations: Early Type, jing component of Kai does not touch the hole, head of Tong is small, short (or soft) stroke Yuan. Middle Type, vertical parallel line in the er component of bao, jing touches the hole, head of tong is narrow, top stroke od yun is longer and middle strokes of bao do not touch the vertical. Late Type, jing component touches the hole, top stroke of yuan is longer, two strokes in middle of bao touch the verticales. Not sure if this will help you, I cant tell from the photo.
Mine is a strong left hook. The jing also appears to touch the hole. That means I have either a middle or late type.
The bao is basically formed of two main characters (or groups), the lower part looks like a box with feet, the top is the rest (with the er), but in yours the crust covers that portion up.
