Brass? Token/coin

[AugustMoose87]

Fairly certain this item is made of brass, just hoping someone might recognize it and be able to give me more info.

 

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[duggap]

Is there anything on the back?

 

[bigfoot1]

pretty sure its a slammer pog...like these

 

[bigfoot1]

may I mention august that the config.of your sig.causes us to have to scroll the page width to read your posts.just lettin you know

 

[AugustMoose87]

I'll have to look in to my signature, thanks for letting me know bigfoot

And I don't know why the back picture didn't load...

 

[AugustMoose87]

And I think that there is writing under the tigers rear leg. I'm hoping maybe someone recognizes the character on the back so I at least know what language I'm working with

 

[bigfoot1]

the pog fad..late 80s into 90s I believe was a completely japaneese invention.It was both a game and a collector hobby.It got pretty popular and everyone was in on making them.Common to have a japaneese motif even if made in mexico.the bigger,heavier ones(often brass)were called slammers.They show up here from time to time.what you have is almost certainly a pog slammer but determining the mfgr.would be daunting without luck and not really provide much insight anyways,largely they have no value unless in original sealed packaging as whole sets.

cool though

 

[mcl]

Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it is commemorating the lunar year of the tiger (zodiac). It appears that the reverse says "Tiger" in calligraphic writing. I'm not able to make out the obverse as it's a little blurry, but the design can be found on other pieces e.g.,:



I can't find your specific piece at the moment. It may have been real money or just a commemorative piece. Both types of items exist. Hope that helps?

 

[mcl]

Okay, the first character (word) on the front of your coin is 寅, but it is in a fancy form so it took me a while to figure it out. The word refers to "tiger" in the sense of the lunar calendar tiger.

 

[AugustMoose87]

Wow, thanks mcl. Are they Chinese characters?

 

[mcl]

Wow, thanks mcl. Are they Chinese characters?

They are Chinese characters. Because one of them refers to the lunar calendar, and because the obverse design may have originated with a 1986 Chinese postage stamp I'd think this means it is Chinese.

However, at least one other major language, Japanese, uses the exact same characters, and in the case of at least the calligraphy on the reverse, means the same thing in both languages.