I found this old coin in a small collection from my parents. My son seems to think it is a Chinese coin from the Qing dynasty? Any ideas? And any idea what it might be worth? Thanks Gerry
I think @Parthicus @ewomack @Muzyck @Devin E. Franklin have answered chinese/japanese/asian coin questions in the past.
@Gerald Gosselin : Your son is correct, it is Chinese and from the Qing dynasty. More specifically, it is from the reign of emperor Ren Zong, who used the reign title Jiaqing (1796-1820), your coin is from the Board of Works mint in Beijing. Top photo is the reverse, showing the mintmark (in Manchu script) and should be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise. Bottom photo is the obverse, giving the standard legend (read top-bottom-right-left) of Jia Qing tong bao (Jiaqing current coin), and it should be rotated 90 degrees clockwise to read properly. Not worth much, maybe a dollar or so- most Qing dynasty cash were issued in huge quantities and are still common- but pretty cool as a genuine 200 year old coin.
http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/china/china8.htm#chai ching S-1490, "BOO YUWAN" (Board of Works mint). The manchurian mint name translates to Pao-yuan or "The Source of all Currency". F $2.00 VF $3.00