As I progress in my shooting of Chinese cash I remain uncertain as to why some details get a different number in Hartill and others do not. Today was Wang Mang / Huo Quan day. This group has labels that are my best guesses. Why, for example does it make no difference that the 'T' in the Quan has a curved top on the top left coin but straight on the others? These coins show a variation in the relative lengths of the legs on Quan which means nothing but the 'T' joining with the line below changes a H9.32 into a H9.39. The lower left coin has two inner rims at the sides so I called it H9.34. The top rim is solid and the bottom one has a separate section raised from the broader base of the rim. The hook shaped parts of the Huos vary a lot including whether or not the tip touches the rim or not. Meaningless? The middle right coin has two raised dots below the hole that appear to be copper rather than patina but these are not among the listed dots. Damage to the mold? The big question here is which of these coins should I place in my collection and which are similar enough that they should be shared with beginners who might appreciate any Wang Mang coin? Are any of details on these examples a sign of one mint or the other or have some meaning other than normal variation? I bought a group of these a couple times in the past and have given away a few leaving these six. How many Huo Quan is reasonable to have? That can't be answered unless I learn what is significant and what is random. I would appreciate corrections if you disagree with the Hartill numbers but I really would appreciate it if you would explain where I went wrong. For example the H9.34 as I listed it seems to have a secondary break in the line below the 'T'. If the coin does not qualify as a double inner rim, does this break mean anything or is it just random?
There are too many small variations, e.g. can you see spikes at the corners of the reverse hole of the middle example on the left side. This makes it Thierry 463. Hartill doesn't even show the reverses.
Ha! Great title Doug Sadly, I've no answers, only a single Chinese coin and in switching phones I've lost my identification:
This is Qian Yuan zhong bao of emperor Su Zong (Tang) 756-62 AD but the Hartill number would require a weight or someone more aware of style differences.
I had about a hundred of these type Chinese coins. I bought most of them in Taiwan and Hong Kong during the past 30 years. I gave them all to a young Chinese friend in Seattle, just before I jumped ship and moved to Thailand. Dunno what he ever did with them. There were some (maybe phony) knife money in the lot too.
