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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 997707, member: 57463&quot;]你好吗?</p><p>Nihow ma?&nbsp; (Or &quot;Nihow are you?&quot;, a joke none of my Chinese colleagues ever found funny.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Zeroeth Law: Never, ever ever ever buy anything Chinese unless you are absolutely confident of the dealer.&nbsp; If you have not seen Susan Headley&#039;s video on About.Com about a Chinese counterfeiting factory (<a href="http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/Chinese-Counterfeiting-Ring/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/ig/Chinese-Counterfeiting-Ring/" rel="nofollow">here</a>) you are the last person on Earth not to know.&nbsp; Start with the assumption that the object is fake.&nbsp; Then work from there.</p><p><br /></p><p>First Rule: <b>Buy the book before you buy the coin.</b> David Hartill&#039;s <i>Cast Chinese Coinage</i> is all right.&nbsp; It is modern and it does rest on several well known classics, including &quot;Fisher&#039;s Ding&quot; and &quot;Schjoth.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><ul> <li><i>Chinese currency</i> (currency of the Far East). A comprehensive text... Chou dynasty (1122 B.C.--255 B.C.) through Ch&#039;ing dynasty (1644 A.D.--1911 A.D.).&nbsp; by Fredrik Schjoth.&nbsp; </li> <li><i>Fisher&#039;s Ding or Din Fubao&#039;s catalog </i>of old Chinese cast coinage selectively translated and annotated, with coin numbering, modern pricing, an index, a cross-reference to Schjoth&#039;s catalog, transliteration conversion tables, Manchu writing examples, a list of Qing Dynasty mints, etc., added.&nbsp; by Fu-Pao Ting</li> </ul><p><br /></p><p>And then there are the works of Kann:</p><p>Eduard Kann / Edward Kann&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </p><ul> <li>History of Chinese paper money (ancient). </li> <li>Coinage of the Chinese Emigre government, 1949-1957. </li> <li>The currencies of China; an investigation of gold and silver transactions affecting China, with a section of copper. </li> <li>Early Chinese silver coinage.&nbsp; </li> <li>Illustrated catalog of Chinese coins (gold, silver, nickel and aluminum).</li> </ul><p>You can get them all from the ANA Library, if you are an ANA Member, whiich you ought to consider at this stage of your hobby.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for dealers, if you stick with ANA members in the USA you will have fewer problems, and if you do, the problems can be solved.&nbsp; A search of the ANA Website lists about 15.&nbsp; Of them, the only one I know is Scott Semans in Issaquah, Washington.&nbsp; I would avoid offshore companies, even if they are ANA Members.&nbsp; However, one stands out:</p><p>Taisei Stamps &amp; Coins (HK) Ltd of Kowloon HONG KONG.&nbsp; They have a sterling reputation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Oddly, there is one dealer, not an ANA member whom I would recommend: Frank S. Robinson.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know why he never joined.&nbsp; He is a retired administrative (regulatory) law judge from upstate New York. I met him by buying ancients. I read and reviewed his book, <i>Confessions of a Numismatic Fanatic</i>, in which he talks about his early fascination with Chinese numismatics, an area he still markets.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.fsrcoin.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.fsrcoin.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.fsrcoin.com/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>BTW, I have an interest in languages and I had two community college classes in Japanese for Business and then worked first for Kawasaki and then for Honda.&nbsp; From Japanese, it was an easy move to work a bit in Chinese numismatics.&nbsp; I went the route with cash coins, attributing them myself against the books, getting comfortable with the characters and all.&nbsp; When I was at Kawasaki, one of the Japanese majored in Chinese in college and work for KHI in China.&nbsp; I showed him my cash coins, all purchased from reputable ANA dealers.&nbsp; He said, &quot;You can buy these today at The Great Wall.&quot;&nbsp; I pointed to the toning, the aging, and he said, &quot;Overnight in pig brine.&quot;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>One of my other interests is aviation and as a tie-in to &quot;Terry and the Pirates&quot; I bought a couple of stacks of 20th century Chinese paper, but with a clear understanding that the KMT counterfeited its own currency.&nbsp; (See <i>The Soong Dynasty</i> by Seagrave. KMT looting of its own bank caused its banker H.H. Kung to abandon the effort and bring his wealth to America.) </p><p><br /></p><p>I still pursue some other interests with China, mostly as research material, not collecting.&nbsp; In addition to the cash, and modern struck coins, and modern paper, I have a slew of exonumia, tokens, chits and things, including some bamboo tokens good for tea, apparently, though sold to me as tax receipts for hot water.</p><p><br /></p><p>In had a class in History of China, a one-semester survey.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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