I work at a museum and we regularly empty our donation box and we frequently get foreign coins. Here is one that I am having a hard time identifying. We have so far identified it as a wealth coin. Are we correct in that assumption? I am not sure which side is the front or back and I am also unsure of its orientation.
I'm not sure what you mean by an "East Asian Wealth Coin". It is a Chinese cash coin of the reign of Emperor Sheng Zu (1662-1722) of the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty (1644-1911). The inscription on the obverse side (bottom image) reads kang xi tong bao. Even though the images are blurred, your coin is clearly a modern machine-made reproduction. Authentic coins from this era were "cast.". Your coin was "struck" and the speckled field between the characters is meant to imitate a cast coin. These "fake" coins are produced in large quantities as souvenirs and for fengshui and charm purposes. Actually, "real "kang xi tong bao coins are both plentiful and inexpensive. They were popularly used as charms because, in Chinese, "kang" means "health" and "xi" sounds the same as the word for "happy". Also, Emperor Sheng Zu reigned for 60 years which is a very auspicious time period to Chinese and symbolizes "longevity". In fact, a special variety of this coin was cast to commemorate his 60 years on the throne. More common varieties of kang xi tong bao coins were made into charms as in this example. Gary
The first picture is of the obverse and is approximately upside down. The second one (reverse) has the top of the coin at the left side. (Properly orienting the pictures won't impart any value, however.)
