Here is a Chinese Cash coin about the size and weight of a quarter. Any information would be of great help. This was my grandmothers who grew up in San Francisco California, born in 1890. Thanks Bone
Don't know that much about these.I know there were many varieties of cash coins.You would probably need a book to identify any.They were made between 1573-1619.There were 2,5,and 10 cash pieces. B12
Cash coins were made as early as 100 BC & were made until 1911 officially (some may have been minted after that). Or was your date specific to Bone's coin? There are a few ID sites online, but I don't kow if one's better than another.
I have a chinese coin that looks similar to that. I am wondering if all those chinese coins with the square in the middle of them were made in the 1600s. If not, what is the latest that they were made?
Almost certainly a few hundred years earlier, and to a very minor extent a few years later. This style was cast in brass, bronze, copper and iron by the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Annamese (roughly present-day Vietnam), by the billions. Most were the common ~21-23mm size, but others ranged as large as nearly 60mm. The square hole served two purposes. The coins were sand cast in "trees", and when they were broken apart they were placed on a square stick so that the casting stubs could be ground off to make them (almost) perfectly circular. In circulation they would be strung on a cord, and carried necklace style long before pockets had been invented or imported in Asia. The characters on this one are too degraded for anyone but a top-notch expert to positively attribute, and even with the help of several reference works, I lack sufficient expertise. It does appear to be Chinese, but probably not from the 1662-1796 Manchu period - at least it's nowhere close to the ones pictured in Petrie's Illustrated Guide to Chinese Cash Pieces of the Manchu Mints. It is definitely not Japanese, but I can't rule out Korea or Annam as possibilities. The top picture needs to be rotated 90 degrees, so that the clear quadrants are top & bottom, and the characters are on the sides. I'm reasonably certain that the rotation should be to the left, but the characters are incomplete so no guarantee.
Good info Roy. Anyone interested in these (or other asian coins) here are a couple links... http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/china/china.htm http://www.zeno.ru
Thank you for the Canadian link Brian. I've had the Russian site bookmarked for a long time, and now I have another.
Old men with metal detectors find coins just like that up here in the Mother Lode region. There were a lot of Chinese miners. Their treatment in the late 1800s was horrific. There are quite a few Chinese people around today with Gold Rush roots.
Thanks to all who responded. Roy, your knowledge in these matters is truly impressive. I appreciate the information. BTW, I bookmarked the 'Calgary Coin' site, thanks Oak. QuickDog, that's interesting about the metal detecting B
I got this one which I originally thought was Emperor Wang Mang from the first century 45 BC - AD 23, but I found a much earlier coin (it might be Emperor Ch'e Wu-ti of the Western Han Dynasty140-118BC) with almost the same inscription.Here is a previous thread on the subject. http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=7011&highlight=wang+mang
