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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;manymore, post: 1088855, member: 17118&quot;]If you rotate the coin (first image) 180 degrees it will then be oriented correctly,</p><p><br /></p><p>The inscription is <i>xiang fu yuan bao</i> which was used on coins cast during the years 1008-1016 of the reign of Emperor Zhen Zong of the Northern Song Dynasty.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse side is written in Manchu, not Chinese, and is typical of cash coins cast during the Qing (Ch&#039;ing) Dynasty.&nbsp; The Manchu inscription indicates that the coin was cast at the Board of Revenue mint in Peking (Beijing).</p><p><br /></p><p>The obvious problem is that the Qing Dynasty began in 1644 so there is at least 600 years between these particular obverse and reverse inscriptions.</p><p><br /></p><p>Usually this would mean the coin is some type of &quot;fantasy&quot; piece or a &quot;fake&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, in this case it is not.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin was actually cast not in China but in Java (Indonesia).&nbsp; To help alleviate a coin shortage in Southeast Asia during the later part of the Qing Dynasty, local businessmen in Java started to cast their own coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>These coins closely imitated the Chinese coins that were widely circulating throughout this part of the world.</p><p><br /></p><p>It made no difference if the obverse and reverse sides of a coin were &quot;correct&quot; or not.</p><p><br /></p><p>These coins were crudely cast as can be seen with your coin.&nbsp; The calligraphy also tended to be very poorly done.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you look at <u>the last coin</u> on <a href="http://elogedelart.canalblog.com/archives/chinese_coins/p60-0.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://elogedelart.canalblog.com/archives/chinese_coins/p60-0.html" rel="nofollow">this page</a> you will see a similar coin with a <i>xiang fu yuan bao</i> obverse inscription and a Manchu reverse side (different mint) that was cast in Java.</p><p><br /></p><p>These Java-made &quot;cash&quot; coins exist in endless varieties and are actually fairly common and inexpensive.</p><p><br /></p><p>Hope you find the above information helpful.</p><p><br /></p><p>Gary[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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