Still going through my father's old coin collection. I came upon this relic. My research has concluded it is an ancient Chinese spade coin, although it does not have " flat feet " or whatever that means. Any help on ID would be much appreciated. Thanks
That's one cool coin. Sorry, I don't know anything about it, but I like it!! Someone will bop around and give you more info. Take care of those coins!
Yes, it is an interesting piece. I've checked a lot of sites on Chinese spade coins, have found nothing that resembles this. Most spades were manufactured in China around 100-400 BC. It is a real solid chunk of history. Measures: Width 1.270 inches/ Length 1.730 inches.
Fisher's Ding, a translation of Ding Fubao's catalog, is the most comprehensive English language resource I'm aware of for ancient Chinese coins. Of the dozens of pictures in there I only found one with a hole at the top similar to the posted example. Even that one looks less like a 19th Century or later style for pendants than the posted picture. Virtually all of the examples in Ding and in the Japanese Numismatic Dealers Association catalog section on ancient Chinese coins, have straight angular lines, rather than the soft curves of the subject item. It just doesn't resemble anything in my reference library. If I had to guess, I would say its a Chinese tourist item or possibly a temple token of some type.
