Hey guys. A friend of mine brought these to me today. He said his dad picked them up in the 50's when he traveled to China. I'm not sure if they are genuine or not... or what they even are for that matter. Any help would be appreciated. This piece is 77mm tall by 40.5mm and weighs 46g This piece is 99mm tall by 42mm at the bottom and weighs 54.4g
Both are Chinese charms. The first is a "Chinese boy" charm. The lower portion of your charm is different from mine, however. The obverse side of your charm displays the eight trigrams. A charm displaying the eight trigrams may be seen here. As best I can tell from the image, the reverse side of your charm has a Daoist theme. The inscription is written in Daoist magic writing and is probably the same as this example although it is difficult for me to be certain. Please compare your charm with the example to see if this is correct. The second charm is a gourd charm which is similar in shape to this one. The Chinese inscription at the top is chang ming fu gui (長命富貴) which translates as "longevity, wealth and honor". I cannot make out the lower portion but I think it is the same Daoist inscription as on the reverse side of your boy charm. The reverse side of the gourd charm has a Buddhist theme. The inscription at the top is a mi tuo fo (阿弥陀佛) which is the Chinese pronunciation for the Sanskrit name of the Amitabha Buddha. The expression a mi tuo fo has the general meaning of "may Buddha protect". The lower portion of the gourd charm shows the eight trigrams just like the obverse side of the boy charm. These charms are poorly cast and, while it is difficult to date from images, they do not appear to be particularly "old" by Chinese standards. Gary
Hi Matt, In my opinion, there is no possibility that these charms could be one or two hundred years old. It's always difficult trying to authenticate from images instead of having the items in hand but my reasons are as follows. Let's use the "boy charm" as the example. Good luck charms are frequently carried and handled. They are hung from the neck or waist, get bumped, dropped, scrapped across tables, etc. They are very often held in the hand and fondled with the fingers. If you look at my boy charm, you will see that the high points such as the forehead, hands, knees and toes are shiny from wear. It is the same on the reverse where the eyelet on the back, the buttock and the heels have been rubbed so much that they shine. Think of how many times and by how many people this charm may have been handled over one or two centuries. If you now examine your boy charm, you will see that there is absolutely no wear at all on the high spots such as the nose, knees and toes. Such a lack of wear on an "old" charm is extremely unlikely. Please look at this boy charm which is very similar to yours. It has the same obverse and reverse as yours. You can clearly see that an old charm like this has wear on its high points. Also, the quality of the metal of your charm is not representative of this type of charm. Not only is the metal of poor quality but so is the casting. Charms are purposely made like this to give the appearance that they are "old and worn" in order to deceive people. Finally, the patina on your boy charm is not right. This type of charm first appeared only a few hundred years ago. They were passed down from generation to generation because they were believed to have the power to bring good fortune, fertility, protection, etc. Unlike coins which could be used in an afterlife, charms like this boy charm were not buried with the dead. A person was not concerned with procreating sons in the afterlife. Having sons was only important when one was alive because of the Confucian responsibilities of filial piety and ancestor worship. Therefore, it is not likely that you would find a charm of this type which is encrusted with patina as if it had been dug up from a tomb. Also, the colors of the patina do not look natural to me. Everything I have said about the boy charm applies to the other charm as well. (As an aside, when one tries to authenticate an old bronze or brass Chinese coin/charm by relying on images only, it is extremely important that the color of the metal and the patina be conveyed accurately. It is always best to use either a white or black background so that the white balance can be determined and the colors be rendered correctly. Your images were taken against a brown background, However, the color of the background is different in the obverse and reverse images which means the colors of the charms are also different. So, which colors are correct? Quite possibly, none.) There are other factors that I could point out but perhaps the above information is sufficient to help you reach an opinion as to the age of these charms. I can believe that these charms may have been obtained back in the 1950's, as you were told. However, I doubt that they could be much older than that. I believe these charms were made as souvenirs to be sold to tourists. Incidentally, the Chinese are now much better at making fake patina look natural. I am just a small-time collector and am in no way an expert so please consider all of the above in that context. Gary
Hello, Resurrecting this thread. Hopefully someone will find it useful someday as I did. I ran into a small collection of coins at a resale shop for $2. They were in a small frame kind of thing. Labeled "Vietnam Precious Coins" on a strip of paper tped out and glued on. I figured they were brought back from Vietnam by a GI back in the day. Spent some time trying to ID them and I am pretty sure I have the exact same gourd charm which I think supports Gary's conclusion. https://photos.app.goo.gl/yPfDDhbsTiTN79Ub7 I am guessing it would be very unusual for 2 to turn up that are so much the same?
