Chinese coin

[brandm24]

I have a small number of this "type" of coins / tokens in my collection and always had questions as to their identity. I'll try to locate and photograph them to post here.

Bruce

[brandm24]

I found two examples but think I may have more...somewhere. These are images of one coin and I'll post the second after it's photographed.

Bruce   

[Figleaf]

Please post the coins separately. They may be Chinese, Japanese or Korean and there are other, less likely possibilities. Also, rotate all pictures 90° counterclockwise.

Cash coins usually have four Chinese characters on the obverse. The two horizontal characters are highly likely to be tung pao, valid coin, so you can disregard them. The vertical characters are the name of an era. The rule of an emperor may be more eras, but on later coins, the era and emperor are 1 to 1 related.

The reverse of cash coins is often blank, but after the Mongol conquest, there is increasing use of the reverse, often for the mint name. The Manchu dynasty standardised the text to two characters in Manchurian. See this thread.

A very cheap and handy guide to Chinese cash coins is Chinesische Käschmünzen by A.A. Remmelts. It is in German, but you don't need to read the language to understand the catalogue.

[Figleaf]

Your coin is of the era Jia Qing (1760-1820), of the (Manchurian) Qing dynasty. The mint name on the reverse looks most like Yun, Yunnan, but the top of the character is worn. This would be Remmelts 194c.

Peter

[brandm24]

I'll rotate the coin and repost it. I'll also try to get a better picture but these dark coins are difficult for me to photograph. Thanks, Peter.

Bruce

[brandm24]

I wasn't able to get better images but I've reoriented to original pictures. I think I got it right this time.

Bruce   

[Guillaume Hermann]

Hi,

What is the diameter of this coin please, and do you think it is made of bronze? It has been imitated at least by Vietnamese and at least in bronze, but I believe it may have been imitated in zinc too.

[brandm24]

I'll have to check it out and get back to you. Probably not bronze but I'll look at it more closely. Thanks.

Bruce

[brandm24]

The coin is 23mm and looks like brass to me.

Bruce

[bgriff99]

Nobody identified your coin.  The mint name is 'giyan', for the Chinese Guiyang, the mint of Guizhou (aka Kweichow) province.  Actually two mints in the province used this mint name, the other being Dading, distinguished by obverse detail.   This is Guiyang.  The reign is Jia Qing, 1796-1820.  The obverse indicates close to the beginning of the reign, so about 1796-1801. 

Metal is brass, with more than regulation base metal.  A Jia Qing Guizhou type coin is very common.  This specific pattern is not. 

[Figleaf]

Great expertise, Bruce. Thank you! You are always welcome to add more of it in any thread.

Peter

[brandm24]

Nobody identified your coin.  The mint name is 'giyan', for the Chinese Guiyang, the mint of Guizhou (aka Kweichow) province.  Actually two mints in the province used this mint name, the other being Dading, distinguished by obverse detail.   This is Guiyang.  The reign is Jia Qing, 1796-1820.  The obverse indicates close to the beginning of the reign, so about 1796-1801. 

Metal is brass, with more than regulation base metal.  A Jia Qing Guizhou type coin is very common.  This specific pattern is not. 

Thanks for the identification. I'll add it to my holder.

Bruce