I have been researching this coin for some time, and I'm empty handed. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, or maybe this is just a fantasy piece. I came across it in a stack of other foreign coins I purchased in an auction I was attending with my wife. I made the scan as big as I could, so I hope it's clear. It appears to be cast iron... but I don't know that for sure. I'm just guessing by the tone of the metal. It could be aluminum hybrid, for all I know. Can you tell me anything about it?
Not a whole lot Rick. Cast iron is far more probable than aluminum or any aluminum alloy. Cash coins were traditionally cast, although there are some later struck brass examples, and their production had pretty well ended before aluminum became readily available. From the general shape of the characters, which I cannot read, I believe your obverse pic should be rotated 90 degrees to the right, and the reverse should also be rotated 90 degrees, but I'm not sure which direction. Cash coins originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. They circulated in Japan, Korea and Annam (roughly the area now known as Vietnam) until the late 19th Century, except for China where they continued in use until at least the birth of the Republic in the early 20th. Yours is definitely not Japanese, and my gut feeling is that it's Chinese, probably 19th Century. I haven't found a copy of Schjoth (the most definitive work on cash coins) at a price I'm willing to pay, and don't have any other comprehensive source. There are literally thousands of individual designs.
Thanks for taking a look! I read a little chinese, but I am not familiar with these characters at all... Although they are not too complex on the obverse, I came up blank. You're absolutley right about the obverse - I couldn't get the image to rotate without messing up the image itself, but the reverse is correct, and the only examples I can find with charactors on the top and bottom (instead of side to side) appear in Krause as 'birthday issue' or something like that - except none of the characters are even close. I am beginning to think it may not be a coin at all, and might be some sort of decorative piece made to appear cash coin-like, but I haven't given up on it yet... it may be some rare or private make. Thanks again Roy!
I've run the pictures by some cash coin collectors, and the consensus is that this piece is a privately issued trade token.
Thanks Roy! I appreciate your help, and bringing up the coin to some of your friends. I was just about ready to give up on it.
