I have had this since I was a child and I am trying to get some information as to what it is, what the symbols mean, and its value. The envelope reads: "China about 1300 A.D. Time of Marco Polo Mandarin coin charm. This coin issued by the Emperor to Generals and Governors ................ office in a new province."
It is a Daoist (Taoist) charm and actually has nothing to do with emperors, generals or governors. The bottom image shows on the right an "immortal" ("halo" circle around head) sitting under a pine tree. In the sky is a moon (circle beneath the hole) surrounded by clouds. Immediately to the left of the "immortal" is a four-legged incense burner or cauldron on a stand. To the left of the incense burner is a crane with an open mouth. At the extreme left corner is a tortoise. At the very bottom of the charm are leaves on a peach branch with a peach at the very center. The symbols on this charm are all associated with "longevity". The immortal, of course, is one who lives forever. The crane, tortoise, peach and pine tree are all symbols of longevity. The cauldron or incense burner alludes to the Daoist quest to find the "elixir of immortality". The "moon" is related to the story of the "Moon Hare" ("Jade Rabbit") who pounds leaves of the cassia (cinnamon) tree with mortar and pestle in an attempt to make the "pill of immortality". The Daoists believed in alchemy and the incense burner or cauldron symbolizes their attempt to make the "elixir of immortality" from cinnabar. The "peach" is the food of the immortals. It is associated with the Queen Mother of the West who had a peach orchard. Eating one of these peaches would allow a person to live 3,000 years. The reverse side (top image) of the charm has a large character written in what is known as Daoist "magic writing" or "magic script". Unfortunately, with the possible exception of Daoist priests, the meaning of these characters remain unknown. However, this particular character is very similar to one on a Daoist charm of mine. Compare the character on your charm with the character at the left of the round hole on mine. While the exact meaning of the character on my charm is unknown, it happens to be paired together with the Chinese character "chang" which means "long". Again, it is unknown if this pairing has any relationship or not. Daoist charms of this type first appeared during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) so the note accompanying your charm indicating "about 1300 AD" could be correct. However, later reproductions of these charms also exist. Gary
Wow Thank you so much for all the information! I have been looking at this thing for about 15 years trying to figure it out. This is very exciting to see what symbols are on it and what they mean. I am not interested in selling it but just to get an idea, do you know what something like this is worth?
