Are there any Chinese Coin Experts out there?

[cambria09]

Hello All. I found this yesterday at a 1920's city house site. Is it old and what does it say? Thanks for any info. HH C9

 

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[QUICKSILVER (appletree)]

CHINESE COIN ID GUIDE (4 characters) - Calgary Coin Gallery look for a match here.

 

[CC Hunter]

cambria09,

Your coin find is a Chinese cash, dating from the Ch'ing or (Qing) Dynasty period 1644-1911. This particular coin was minted during the reign of China's Tao-Kuang Emperor, ca. 1821-1850

Daoguang Emperor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The side of the coin with four characters, depicts the reign and title of the emperor, shown with the two markings, top and bottom. The character markings on that side, left and right are; "Tung Pao", signifying money or legal currency in Chinese.

Ching Dynasty - Tao Kuang coins

The side of the coin with only two characters, shows the "Boo" mark on the left signifying mint, and the actual mark of the mint on the right. This particular coin appears to read "Boo-Dung", which would denote the Tung Mint in Yunnan Province.

Manchu mintmarks

Yunnan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


CC Hunter

 

[ericrud1739]

Wow. I think I found something similar here in Madison, MS. I was digging near a farm house on my neighbors property that dates to around the 1920's. What do y'all think?

 

[kuger]

Wow. I think I found something similar here in Madison, MS. I was digging near a farm house on my neighbors property that dates to around the 1920's. What do y'all think?

There are litterally millions of them scattered all over the US wth a wide range of reingns of Emperors.Most arent worth much,so take some fine steel wool and try to remove some of that crust so you can make out the characters,this is necessary to properly ID your coin

 

[CC Hunter]

ericrud1739,

Kuger is correct, as these Chinese coins show up in places from Alaska to Hawaii, and all states North, South, East, and West. Canada is even known to turn up a few on occasion. The greatest majority, are found in and around areas of active Chinese settlement during the 19th Century.

Your particular coin find is a Chinese cash, dating from the Ch'ing or (Qing) Dynasty period 1644-1911. The side with four markings, show that this coin was minted during the reign of China's Ch'ien Lung Emperor, ca. 1736-1795.


Qianlong Emperor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ching Dynasty - Chien Lung coins


The side of the coin with two character markings, clearly shows the "Boo" mark, meaning Mint. The other marking designating the particular mint, is not clearly defined in the photos, and therefore cannot be easily attributed to the actual mint.


CC Hunter

 

[ericrud1739]

Thanks CC Hunter. Ill try to get it cleaned up a little bit. I'm shocked it is that old!

 

[cambria09]

Hello All. I emailed the Chinese Coin ID Guide site provided by Quicksilver and got two responses, one ID'ing my coin as:

Emperor HSUAN TSUNG, AD 1821-1850
Reign title: TAO-KUANG, AD 1821-1850


The second response with link is below and it explains how my coin may have come to be lost in the back yard of circa 1920's house here in Florida. HH C9

During the first half of the 20th century, these types of coins were no longer being used in China, but were still very common there. To put them to use they started using them like beads as decorations on various objects, in particular wicker sewing baskets made in China. Here is an image of one with four on it :

http://www.chinesesewingbaskets.com/small_baskets/assets/small_antique_chinese_sewing_basket.jpg

These baskets were very common in the US, and over time many of them wore out and were discarded. Because of this, these type of coins are found all over the US, often in peoples yards.

Robert

 

[unclemac]

I believe these have even shown up in Inuit and Inupiat pre-common era sites too.