One more.... Is it Japanese? The symbols look similar to the others I had that were identified as Japan - Edo period coins. Can anyone give me a date and country for this coin? Thanks. rexesq
Nope. The obverse of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Annamese cash coins are all similar, using the Chinese characters which read (top to bottom, left to right) the equivalent of "era name money", although sounding entirely different in each language. For instance, the characters read in Chinese as "Tong Bao" are read in Japanese as "Tsu Ho". Identifying their country of origin is frequently easy based on the reverse. In this case the Manchu characters on the reverse, which identify the particular issuing authority/mint where it was cast, unmistakeably pinpoint it as Chinese. We do have members who read the characters, and hopefully one of them will post an identiication. There are many hundred varieties from the 1300+ years of production, but the general appearance of this one says mid-18th Century to late 19th Century to me.
I'm going to guess that it is Chinese, ruler Chia-Ch'ing (1796-1820), minted at the Tung mint, Yunnan.
Agree with acanthite although I don't know where it was minted. These were minted in cast moulds in millions.
