My first Chinese coin which was bought with a large group of foreign coins. I think I found it on page 433 of my 2014 Standard Catalogue of World Coins and is labeled C#19-7. Knowing nothing about grading these, I would guess VF or so. Listed value is $55. Did I get it right? Is that value realistic? Thanks
Unfortunately, it looks like you have the far more common Y#190 variety. Type C #19-7 was the last cash coin from the Guangdong mint to be cast in the traditional way, and is a fairly low mintage piece. Type Y#190 uses the same inscription but was machine-struck, and it was issued in much larger numbers. Your coin is worth maybe a dollar or so. Sorry the value isn't as high as hoped, but it's still a cool bit of history, and a relic of when China was transitioning into the modern world.
I was so excited to finally locate what looked like my coin in the catalog that I didn't even look at the next one! Thanks for the info.
I always find it funny that the machine struck ones almost always have some sort of problem with the hole orientation.
