Qian-long copper pul issued in Kucha, 1878

[bgriff99]

Upon the Chinese recapture of Xinjiang in 1878, multiple types of provisional cash were cast.  This was probably the first.   Copies of some ordinary eastern cash were ordered.  It was not random.  A matched set of Board of Revenue, and Works was produced.  The date of the ones copied was about 1750.  This is Board of Works.  Subsequently it was ordered they should have a crescent on the reverse to distinguish from eastern cash. 

[JMP]

Waw! One should know already history of Chinese coins very well to judge this coin right.
A young collectioner would think: Okay, Qian Long - board of works, one of the many.
Yes, the specimen has a special look but even here one has to know the moon is there, because it is difficult to distinguish.
Not that I expect quickly to fall on some of these, but nevertheless good to know they exist!

[bgriff99]

Waw! One should know already history of Chinese coins very well to judge this coin right.
A young collectioner would think: Okay, Qian Long - board of works, one of the many.
Yes, the specimen has a special look but even here one has to know the moon is there, because it is difficult to distinguish.
Not that I expect quickly to fall on some of these, but nevertheless good to know they exist!

This doesn't have the reverse crescent.   Before posting I had to double check that against a full catalog of all Xinjiang varieties.  What this does have is a big casting sprue in the wrong position for a regular cash, which is always one of the 45 degree points. 

Re young collectors, cash coins have become a problem situation with so many fakes, and of those many are just flea-market copies.   I have people of long experience including dealers, tap me for opinions on genuineness, and attribution.  Just reading the inscription is not enough. 

Because cash are usually collected as type coins, where the type has many varieties, anything goes if not knowing better.   In Japan, it was the 1970's that catalogs for every type variety became the norm.  For Chinese cash, at the same time was Werner Burger for Qing, and soon after, detailed works in China.   Everything keeps getting more complicated.   I grew up with it.   For new collectors it is rough. I got killed with fakes of Vietnam before seeing good Japanese books.