Square hole coin

[260sundancer]

Short beach hunt any input on the square hole piece the merc as far as I can tell 1916 first year made

 

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[smokeythecat]

These are Chinese cash coins. They have been made for hundreds of years. Yours is probably about 200 years old. I found one earlier this year. If you look them up on the net you can get a date range.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice coin finds!

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds 260Sundancer. Thanks for sharing...

 

[Trezurehunter]

Smokey is right. Coin with the hole is Chinese, and they are pretty plentiful here in the U.S., especially if you hunt in the fields. You mentioned your Merc is a 1916. Flip that thing over, and see if it has the D Mint mark. If so, you found a good one. There were only 264,000 of those minted.