I bought these coins at an estate of a WWI Marine Vet. He traveled the world and had a nice collection of 'things'. I bought 3 Chinese coins but I can't ID them. I would appreciate any help.
1st coin is a Chinese Yuan known as Junk Dollar for the Junk boat on the back. These are highly faked and I can't speak to authenticity of your coin based on the pictures provided. 3rd picture is the reverse of one of your coins. The reverse looks to be a Boo Ciowan (Board of revenue in Beijing) 4th picture is a Chi'en Lung Tong Bao, ca 1736-1795. 5th and last picture is upside down but it looks like a Chia Chi'ng Tong Bao, ca 1796-1820
I agree whole heartedly with frog on the Junk Dollar, including the quality of the photo, and the counterfeiting. It's hard to make any determinations about anything when the photos are so blurry, also rotate those pix to their proper viewing angle. I know little or nothing about the ones with square holes except that I've seen them called "cash" coins. Now with that information, and assuming it's true, you could conjecture that the coins are all real. That time frame was long before the Chinese began to counterfeit everything in the world they could make a dime on. The American military, including the Navy and the Marines, were in China during just about that time period and somewhat before. The story is very plausible. I would have bought them , given the chance, both then and at the estate sale. This thread reminds me of a movie : " The Sand Pebbles " starring Steve McQueen. Anybody see it?
Thank you all very much. I erred in the post, it was a WWII vet, not a WWI vet. I will post more pictures of each of the 3 coins.
I stand by everything I said in my first post. Are you able to get the weight of the junk dollar? That is the only one that is suspect due to the high counterfeit rate. Yours has a decent chance of being legit, though it never hurts to be wary. The cash coins are fairly common and can be bought for a buck or so. Also, for future reference, take pictures of your coins straight down. Doing it at an angle makes it difficult to see things properly sometimes.
I can weight them if I get into town and remember to do so. Thanks. How in the world did you guys gain this knowledge?
Here is info on the junk dollar https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide...y-345-221933-231934-cuid-1068483-duid-1299528 As for the knowledege, I cant speak for everyone here, but I read alot. I don’t focus on one thing like some people here. They know a certain series inside and out. I dabble in a lot of things and know a little bit about a lot of things haha. If I dont know, I know where to find the answer.
Again, I agree with frog. The WW II time frame is still better than the modern era when it comes to authenticity of valuable coins, and when I say valuable, I'm speaking only of the junk dollar and only in the range of $100.00, give or take. I think your dating is correct. Here is a link I copied from one of our members concerning Japanese coins. The numbering is the same for both Japanese and Chinese. However the dating may be different because the Chinese had different Emperors. I'll see what I can find regarding Chinese coin dating.
Man, let me tell you, there is so much info available I just don't know where to start....so I'll let you do it. Enter " How to date old Chinese coins " in your google search box and start reading. There's dating methods, there's images to identify coins, there's history of Chinese coins. There's everything. Enjoy and Good Luck !!
The silver coin looks genuine but will still need to know the weight for confirmation. I don't think its worthwhile to be graded as the value doesn't make it worthwhile
Many thanks! I might have to work this weekend and may not get it weighed. The nice thing about bu ying coins is that you learn so much. I picked this up at the same auction.
