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Message:: [QUOTE="manymore, post: 1119247, member: 17118"]It's Chinese. The top image needs to be rotated about 80 degrees clockwise.  The inscription near the top rim is zhong hua min guo yuan nian which translates as "Republic of China, inaugural (first) year". The large Chinese character in the very middle of the coin is han which refers to the "Han Dynasty" but here has the general meaning of "the people of the Han" or the large ethnic majority of Chinese people. The bottom image needs to be rotated about 90 degrees counterclockwise.  The inscription near the top rim reads jun zheng fu zao which means "made by the Military Government". The four character inscription in the middle of the coin is si chuan tong bi which means "Sichuan (Province) copper coin". The inscription at the bottom rim is dang zhi qian wu shi wen which translates as "worth 50 wen". This coin was thus struck in the first year (1912) of the Republic of China by the Military Government in Sichuan Province.  The denomination is "50 wen". The last Chinese dynasty (Qing or Ch'ing) fell in 1911.  The emperors were not "Chinese" but rather Manchu.  The Manchu were an ethnic minority that originated in Manchuria (northeastern China).  This is the reason for the "han" character on the coin since the country was again being governed by ethnic Chinese. This coin was minted in large quantities making it "very common". Gary[/QUOTE]