Can anybody supply information ($$$) on a couple coins which I recently acquired? They are Ming Dynasty Jen Tsung 1425 AD, which is listed in Schjoth but not in Hartill, and Chi Tao, 955AD, listed as Northern Song Dynasty in the White book but not in Schjoth or Hartill. Pictures on http://www.flickr.com/photos/johndanielreid/
The "Ming Dynasty Jen Tsung 1425 AD" is actually a chun xi yuan bao cast during the years 1174-1189 of the reign of Emperor Xiao Zong of the Southern Song Dynasty. Hartill lists it as 17.185 and Schjoth as S714 (?). The "Chi Tao 955AD" (zhi dao yuan bao) is correctly identified as a Northern Song coin. It was cast during the years 995-997 of the reign of Emperor Tai Zong. See Hartill 16.35 (Schjoth 465?). Both coins would be considered very common. Gary
Listed as 995 in Hartill, I just noticed.... White must have an error in the date. Thanks for the IDs here. I still get easily confused (and often embarrassed, like today) This is a fairly new area for me. The seal, grass, running styles are still almost a blur to me, especially with some of the very worn coins.
It is very easy to get turned around on Chinese coins, I do it all the time. One thing I notice is that the more you handle them, are around them, you start to recognize the age of the coins based upon their manufacture. Its not precise, but I can pick up a coin and immediately know within a few hundred years when it was made based upon HOW it was made. I am not sure I am making sense, but it allows me to narrow down all of the possibilities to narrower time frames, like to certain dynasties. This is helpful for someone like me who doesn't read Chinese and if I am away from them for a few months.
That is a talent! I look first for Manchurian script on the reverse or for one of the cursive scripts on the obverse, which are usually Northern Song coins. Even some of the writing is starting to become familiar to me. The simpler characters, at least.
Get a hold of many Chinese coins from all eras. Start to handle them, inspect the edges, look at the style a calligraphy, just get a complete sense of the coin. Then compare that to coins made 500 years earlier or later. Feel and see the differences. It just seems like you can feel and see the progression in coining being made over the centuries. That is what I was talking about. I am sure other collectors know it, even if they haven't thought about it. Its just like the best way to tell forgeries is to handle thousands of real coins. You eventually get to know them well, and can spot an imposter pretty quickly. I find this only works in person, doen't really help with photos much.
I have a rather nice assortment of forgeries, most of which were probably made within the past ten years. And one old Kang Hsi coin with a miserable job of interpreting Manchurian script. If you are interested, it is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johndanielreid/ on page two I really need to rework this bunch of pictures, and to correct some innaccurate information. Maybe one of these days....... I have spent too much of the past three weeks identifying about 1,200 coins, mostly Northern Song, but an astonishing number of Ming Dynasty and Japanese in the mix. At the moment, a couple of paint brushes and a bucket of paint are calling me from the bathroom, so everything else is going to take a back seat for a while.
