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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;manymore, post: 1064695, member: 17118&quot;]I&#039;m not sure what you mean by an &quot;East Asian Wealth Coin&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is a Chinese cash coin of the reign of <a href="http://primaltrek.com/chinesecoins.html#sheng_zu" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://primaltrek.com/chinesecoins.html#sheng_zu" rel="nofollow">Emperor Sheng Zu</a> (1662-1722) of the Qing (Ch&#039;ing) Dynasty (1644-1911).</p><p><br /></p><p>The inscription on the obverse side (bottom image) reads <i>kang xi tong bao</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Even though the images are blurred, your coin is clearly a modern machine-made reproduction.&nbsp; Authentic coins from this era were &quot;cast.&quot;.&nbsp; Your coin was &quot;struck&quot; and the speckled field between the characters is meant to imitate a cast coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>These &quot;fake&quot; coins are produced in large quantities as souvenirs and for <i>fengshui</i> and charm purposes.</p><p><br /></p><p>Actually, &quot;real &quot;<i>kang xi tong bao</i> coins are both plentiful and inexpensive.</p><p><br /></p><p>They were popularly used as charms because, in Chinese, &quot;<i>kang</i>&quot; means &quot;health&quot; and &quot;<i>xi</i>&quot; sounds the same as the word for &quot;happy&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, Emperor Sheng Zu reigned for 60 years which is a very auspicious time period to Chinese and symbolizes &quot;longevity&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>In fact, a <a href="http://primaltrek.com/charmfeatures.html#kang_xi" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://primaltrek.com/charmfeatures.html#kang_xi" rel="nofollow">special variety of this coin</a> was cast to commemorate his 60 years on the throne.</p><p><br /></p><p>More common varieties of <i>kang xi tong bao</i> coins were made into charms as in <a href="http://primaltrek.com/poemcoin.html#kang_xi_fish_engraving" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://primaltrek.com/poemcoin.html#kang_xi_fish_engraving" rel="nofollow">this example</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Gary[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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