Hi everyone. Pardon my messy assortment of photos. I came across this pile of ancient (Japanese? Chinese?) currency. I have no clue what any of it may be worth. I see that most of the stuff that is green like the money knives are not super valuable on ebay. Just based off what you see here are there any items that may be worth something and if so how much? If not what would you guess this pile would be worth if sold as a lot? Ballpark is fine. I appreciate any info you may be able to provide.
The cross looks like a copper katanga (African) Most of these are Chinese designs. With older stuff, reproductions are more common than authentic ones. Due to the relative lack of natural wear from circulation, I would use caution. Many look more like temple tokens/amulets/fantasy issues than circulation coins. Good luck!
The Katanga cross sticks out as different, being a whole different continent. Oddly enough I just added one of these to my collection after dropping a silly--and apparently too high going by Heritage archives--bid on one in a Japanese auction. Missed the Japanese coin I was after, but by golly I got the cross! The money tree strikes me as particularly off--the only money trees I've seen for real are functional and part of the casting process. This looks like an actual tree... here is an auction for an actual one from Heritage archives : https://coins.ha.com/itm/japan/worl...-38108.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
The "money tree" is indeed a modern creation, but the oval coins it copies are Japanese 100 mon denomination with inscription Kanei Tsuho; the original coins were issued 1835-1870 and are common today, even in high grades. But as noted, this tree is not original, it looks like a modern concoction intended for decoration or to fool an unwary tourist. All the other pieces that I can figure out are Chinese. A few may be genuine, others are pretty definitely fake. Here's what I can see: A, B, C, and D are all multiple-cash of the Kangxi Emperor (1851-1861). A huge variety of multiple-cash coins were cast during his reign, due to the economic disruption caused by the Taiping Rebellion. Coins A and B show the obverse, featuring only the Emperor's reign period; the reverse shows the mint and denomination, and in many cases there are additional varieties based on diameter and weight. C and D do show the reverses (and these types were only issued during the Kangxi period). C is a 50 cash from the Board of Revenue mint in Beijing, while D is a 20 cash from Fuzhou mint in Fujian Province. Most varieties are not rare, and these usually don't show a whole lot of wear, so it's possible these four are actually genuine. I don't see any obvious problems with these four pieces; however, the fact that these were found with definite fakes makes me wary. E looks like a "wedding token". These show couples copulating, sometimes with words for luck or flowers. Supposedly these were given to couples on their wedding nights, though I've asked a couple of Chinese friends about this and they've never heard of it. Either the wedding gift story is wrong, or else the practice has completely died out in modern Chinese culture. I have an example (bought from a coin dealer who specialized in Asian coins) that is supposedly from c.1900-1920, though it is very hard to reliably date tokens and amulets that were not official government issues; yours might be old, or it might be a modern copy. F features three knife coins. There were a lot of varieties issued by various dynasties in China c.600-250 BC, and another type issued by Wang Mang (7-22 AD), but I don't know much about non-round Chinese coins. Most types are fairly rare, however, and they have been extensively copied, so I would be cautious. The others all appear to be modern copies of old Chinese coins and tokens. The spade-shaped piece in the photo copies the shape of various ancient coins, but I can't read the inscription and it feels "off" to me; it's almost certainly a modern copy. Sorry that most of these appear to be modern reproductions; as such, they would have very little value. I am still somewhat optimistic about the Kangxi pieces (A-D). Most of the varieties of Kangxi multiple cash similar to yours have a rarity rating of 11 or 12 (Common) in Hartill's catalogue, thus an estimated value of $15-25 each. Of course, that's assuming they're genuine and are common varieties; fakes are worth less, of course, and rare varieties more. Hope this helps.
I'd probably buy that 'tree' if it were cheap...a funny bit of art and a play on the words (assuming the tree translation is similar). As for Token E, naturally I had to zoom in. Definitely naughty!
