I'm almost positive that is is Ancient China, but have no idea idea what dynasty, denomination etc. Help please!
Nope! Cash coins have been minted in China, Japan, Korea and Annam (present-day Vietnam) for more than a millenium. Yours is Japanese, cast prior to 1867, and probably after 1840. The first picture (which is the obverse) needs to be rotated almost 90 degrees to the right, and the second one needs to be rotated approximately 180 degrees. I have minimal expertise on pre-Meiji Japanese coinage, but if no one else responds with the information, I'll check my references and respond later this evening. BTW, I don't think I've said to CoinTalk to you, so consider it said.
I have a whole stack of these I bought from another coin forum, each one is identified (most 1800's) but they all look pretty much the same to me I just liked the way they look and didnt have any of the type...so..in other words...I cant help ya...just rambling oh...and welcome to the forum
The denomination is one Mon, and the time period is very probably ~1840-1869, but I can't pin it down any further without manipulating your photos to enlarge and clarify the characters, and then comparing them with pictures in various reference books, which I can't do right now.
Roy,that 1 Cash coin is definitely Chinese.As to which province & in what period it was issued,I don't know,as I can't read either Chinese or Japanese.It is the type of characters that will provide a clue to identify the coin. Aidan.
I disagree with those who said it's Chinese. More infomation can be read from this link: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/roberts/coins/Kaneibasics.html
I'm afraid that Jacobs & Vermeule, authors of Japanese Coinage, 2d Ed. 1972, and my Beautiful Bride are among the many, many authorities who disagree with your conclusion Aidan, and agree with gxseries and me. First, my BB (a college graduate in Japan before I stole her away from her family shortly after the Korean War) read the obverse characters (top to bottom, right to left) as Kan-ei Tsu-ho. Since you admit that you can't read the characters, please verify her ability to do so by comparing dimkasmir's photo with the picture of a Kan-ei Tsu-ho 1 Mon on p.779, of the 19th Century Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins 2002 3rd Ed. The Kan-ei Tsu-ho era was more or less contemporaneous with the period that Tokugawa Iyeoshi was Shogun, during the reigns of the last two Emperors of the Edo Period, Ninko and Komei. The "Gan" or "Gen" mint mark on the reverse is among the few Kanji characters which I can read myself.. Krause agrees with Jacobs & Vermeule that this was the Osaka mint's mark. Jacobs & Vermeule further ID the mint as having been in the Kampa area of Osaka. The coin is No. K308 in their numbering system. They date the coin as having been cast c1740, which was early in the Kan-ei Tsu-ho era. In Modern Japanese Coinage, 2d Ed. 1978, Mike Cummings translates the Meiji Emperor's law converting Japan's coinage from cast Mon, Shu, Bu, etc., to western-style milled coins. Under that statute the new Sen denomination was valued at 50 Sen=500 Mon, making the Mon equal to 1 Rin (1/10 of a Sen or 1/1000 of a Yen). Since the Yen had the same silver weight as a Morgan Dollar, the Mon's value was fixed at one US mil (1/10 cent). All of my other references, including the annual Japanese Numismatics Dealers Association catalogs, agree with the ones already cited. BTW a single character at the top (in medal orientation) of a cash coin reverse is only found on Japanese coins and Korean coins produced under Japanese hegemony/rule. After reviewing both Schjoth and Fisher's Ding, I have found no depictions of Chinese coins having only Kanji characters on the obverse and either plain or one-character reverses. Unfortunately for dimkasmir's pocketbook, Kan-ei Tsu-ho coins were cast in huge numbers, and had a relatively high survival rate, so they have very little monetary value, even in that relatively high grade. That said, the color in the picture looks more like iron than brass. If it is, in fact, iron in that rust-free condition, it could be worth several dollars. Edited to add: gxseries, thank you for that wonderful link!
Roy,if it is iron,then it could be one of those seed coins,which were used to cast the moulds that were used to cast the brass coins.The seed coins are listed in Krause as well as the 'normal' brass coins. Aidan.
Wrong again my friend. Due to copper shortages, some Mon were cast in iron. Check out that link that gxseries posted. Especially in the area of pre-Meiji coinage, Krause is not always accurate, and seriously incomplete. That's why I prefer to rely on more specialized authorities such as Schjoth, Ding Fu Bao (and the English translation by Fisher) etc.
Please, anything that looks like English writing on it doesn't mean that it's British, nor anything that looks like Arabic is from Saudi Arabia. Sterotyping languages is NEVER useful for numismatics. It is true that during the early days, Japan imported Chinese coins as Japan couldn't keep up with the growing economy. It is highly recommanded that you should read this link from the Bank of Japan currency museum: http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/cm/english_htmls/history.htm
Gxseries,I am not stereotyping any languages.I know which coins come from Saudi Arabia & which come from other Arabic-speaking countries. Aidan.
