Hello there everyone, I am trying to determine the Hartill variety of a Chinese Empire Qianlong 1 Cash Boo-Chiowan coin and have come to a bit of an impass. I do not actually have Hartill's book, so it is a bit difficult determining which variety it is. I have it down to 22.201, 22.203, 22.204, or 22.243. In addition to using many different sources and looking at example images, I used these pages: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1133.html https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces43182.html I can not find much information on distinguishing these four varieties. It seems to me that 22.203 and 22.204, both Type B, can be distinguished from one another based on the size of their rims. It also seems that 22.203 and 22.204 can be distinguished from 22.243, the "palace coin" Type B might be distinguishable based on the metal quality. I have not come across any information on die characteristics to distinguish 22.243 from the other Type Bs. This all seems like it should be simple. The main problem, however, is that I can not figure out Type A from Type B. I know my coin is not 22.200 because it has 乾 with the 乙 radical, not the し radical. However, it seems that all of the Type Bs also have the 乙 radical. Long story short, does anyone know how to differentiate Type A from Type B? From Numista: Type A: Well made coin with large Manchu characters. Type B: 乙 radical in 乾; マ radical in 通 Thank you for any information you might have. I am hoping someone with Hartill's book will be able to help me out, since I have not yet bought one.
Thank you so much! That is really helpful! You may have just convinced me to buy Hartill's book! My coin weighs 4.02g and is very slightly less than 24mm. Maybe 23.7ish (based on a ruler), so it must not be a palace coin! I was curious if the images in Hartill's book (which are extremely helpful) show exactly what the coin should look like, or if there can be some variation. If it's exactly as the coins look, my coin is definitely not 22.201, since the Boo-Chiowan on my coin is not that large. Then, it's between .203 and .204. I would think the diameter would make it .204, but the chiowan on the reverse is very straight, narrow, and rigid... just like on .203. It is not broad like on .204. Then again, my whole process could be wrong because I ruled out all Type Es on the premise that they had the コ radical in 通 wheras my coin has the マ radical, but 22.245 appears to be a Type E with the マ radical, so I am not sure! Anyways, here are the pictures of my coin (if you know what it is, please give hints only not spoilers, lol!)
Glad that the book pages were of help. I don't have anything more definitive to say than what's in the book. To me, the 乾 has a longer lower left tail, so I would rule out 22.200 (I also use the rarity numbers as a guide to how likely a type is to be mine. 15-16 are very common. Lower numbers are unlikely to be found by chance.) The top of 寶 extends up pretty high, so maybe 22.203. The rims look broader on yours than 22.204. In 22.204, the Manchurian word on the left touches the rims, and on yours there's a clear space. Since they are all comparable rarity and value (except 22.200, which isn't a close match at all), IDing the variety precisely is mostly for fun in this case. Good luck!
Thank you for all of that info! IDing the variety for me is always for the fun of it. I did not know that there were relatively valuable varieties compared to others. I had never considered that some could be more rare than others! I think you're probably right with 22.203. Today, the mailman delivered a very special package. My very own copy of Hartill! I went out and got it after seeing how helpful it is from your pictures! I certainly did not expect it to be so huge and filled with so much information. I can't wait to go through it all
