I recently purchased this coin from an individual who said they had no idea what it was or how old it was or if it was even real (SO THAT MADE 2 OF US). He said he has owned it for over 20 years. Any ideas all help is greatly appreciated.
I can't be certain, but I strongly doubt that it is a real coin. The shape is that of a Chinese/Japanese/Annamese/Korean cash coin, in a style cast for over a thousand years. The character at the left side of the top picture is a crude depiction of the Japanese character for "yen". Why should that cast doubt on its authenticity (Pun intended ) Because the denomination "yen" was created in 1867-68 (I don't recall which and my references aren't handy) when the Meiji Emperor decreed that Japan should begin striking western-style coins, and the last year in which Japanese cash coins (1 and 4 mon denominations) were cast is 1866. Other problems include the irregular shape, not usually seen on cash coins as they are cast, not hammered, and the molds are round the characters at the sides of the bottom picture (especially the left side) resemble the Manchu characters commonly found on Chinese cash coins, which is inconsistent with the "yen" marking both sides have characters at the right and left of the hole, but none above and below it, although generally the obverse has four characters - read in sequence top, bottom, right, left - and the reverse normally has none, one (at the top), or four.
This is a Chinese amulet or charm. Probably of recent origin. It is similar to rare charms that date to the Han dynasty. The book Classic Chinese Charms edited by Dr. Yiwei Zheng has listed some similar rubbings of this type amulet on page 55. Amulets that date to the Han dyanasty are worth quite a bit but this one is not from the Han dynasty.
I tend to think this is of Chinese origin if authentic. The characters on the top picture read from right to left seems to be in archaic script for 半兩 or half tael. The script on the other side of the coin don't seem to be manchu to me. The script here is too angular. This appears to be yet some other archaic Chinese script.
