3 different Cash Coins..but with similarities

[Alan Glasser]

Hello, Cash coin experts. I certainly have NO knowledge of this sort of thing but I am helping my neighbor (recent widow)with coins left by her husband. The British coin experts were terrifically helpful with Victorian pennies and one of the members made a suggestion to come to this area for help. I hope I'm not imposing.

I do seem to have trouble posting photos so please bear with me if I mess up. Anyway, here are the photo links (I hope). The middle coin is noticeably smaller and thicker than the other 2 and the third coin appears to be blank on the reverse. Any help would be appreciated and if you feel they are worth putting on E-Bay, I'd appreciate that info as well, please. Many thanks.  Alan in Massachusetts   alglasser 

[Finn235]

Left: China, Qianlong 1736-95 (upside down)
Middle: China, Daoguang 1820-1850 (also upside down)
Right: Japan, Kanei Tsuho, I think early or mid 1700s; the type was made from the 1640s until 1869

[bgriff99]

First two are China, and upside down.    Third is Japan.

1.   Inscription top-bottom, right-left = Qian Long Tong Bao (old transliteration Ch'ien Lung Tung Pao).    Mint is Beijing, Board of Revenue.    The coins do not have dates, but can to a greater or smaller degree be assigned dates as the writing detail codes the issue year.    For this period several years showed negligible change.   So for being upside down and no diameter, how about 1751-56.

2.   Inscription Dao Guang Tong Bao (or Tao Kuang Tung Pao).     This reign cannot be dated with any accuracy.    The reign is 1821-50.   This is toward the end.    Mint again is Beijing, Board of Revenue.    Mintage was about one billion pieces per year for these two.   They have no significant wholesale value.

I should point out the inscriptions are, top and bottom, "reign title" characters, not the emperor's name, which was never used.   Same idea as in Japan with "Showa era", etc.   During the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty 1644-1911 only one reign title was used for each emperor.   So to be correct, one speaks of "the Qian Long emperor", but casually the reigns are used as if they were names.   

Right-left characters "tong bao" means more or less 'universal treasure', or 'circulating currency'.   That became standard during the Tang Dynasty some 1300 years ago.   Notice it is the same on the Japanese coin.   It would also be so on Korean and Vietnamese cash.

3.  Inscription "Kanei Tsuho".    "Tsu Ho is Japanese for "Tong Bao."     The general type with the same top-bottom characters was cast from 1626-1866.    This is not my collecting area, but checking sources comes up with this:   Hagiwara-sen, named for the calligrapher of the particular kind, cast 1700-07 in Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto.    It may have value as a specific variety, but as the 1700-07 type coin, worth a pound or two.   It is a quite clear specimen, so not junk box material.