I dug this up about 4 years ago in Oregon...and I've kept it in a box for this long. Could anyone give me a little background info on it? The year, where it came from, and value. Thanks http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v95/rolltide/fr.bmp http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v95/rolltide/b.bmp
how'd you manage to find that in Oregon? wow that appears to be a chineese coin (an ancient one at that)
It's a Chinese cash coin, and I'm guessing that it's brass. Your first picture is the obverse, which can be found on Chinese, Japanese and Korean coins. A little lightning and contrast adjusting of your picture brought out enough of the reverse for me to recognize a very common Chinese pattern. These coins were cast in brass, copper, bronze and even iron over several centuries, and after I fooled around with your picture, it looks kind of brassy. Cash coins circulated throughout Asia, and Chinese cash coins are among the earliest coinage to circulate in both Japan and Korea. They were cast by national governments, provincial governments, and some of the warlords in all three countries. There are page after page of examples in the 17th, 18th and 19th Century volumes of Krause and even some cast in China in the early years of the 20th Century. The reverses of a number of 20th Century provincial examples closely resemble yours, but I can't specifically ID it. There are various theories about the purpose of the square holes, but I don't think any of them have been conclusively established.. Value? Probably a few cents, possibly a few bucks, and conceivably (but very, very doubtful) lots of bucks.
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