Far Eastern coin

[william 0]

I have a coin which I don't know anything about. It has a square hole in the middle, and around that are some strange letters. I think it is Chinese or Japanese. Can anybody confirm what country it is from, and give me a rough date. The Chinese letters are hard to see in the scan, so I have circled them. Here is a pic vvvv

Thanks

Edited April 15, 2004 by william

[Master Jmd 50]

chinese dynasty coin

[william 0]

Did I mention the obverse is blank?

[Master Jmd 50]

i have one exactly like that

[Chris Perkins 223]

Yes it's a Chinese 'Cash' coin, the symbols should tell you the province and the ruler which enables rough dating. I can't make that one out at all. Most of them I find are dated 1790's - early 1900's.

[william 0]

Great, so it is definately Chinese. Any chance of a rough date?

[Master Jmd 50]

as far as i know, all chinese dynasty coins are blank on one side

[william 0]

Yes it's a Chinese 'Cash' coin, the symbols should tell you the province and the ruler which enables rough dating. I can't make that one out at all. Most of them I find are dated 1790's - early 1900's.

Thanks for the info Chris and Master JMD

Edit: typing error!

Edited April 15, 2004 by william

[Chris Perkins 223]

The other side is blank? Could it just be very worn? I don't think I've come across a blank one before...Not they I pay them huge attention usually.

[Master Jmd 50]

@chris, these coins are definately blank, i have seen 5 of them in my short life, and they were all blank...i also own one which is blank...

[william 0]

As far as i can see, the other side is blank. I can't see any trace of lettering anything else. All it has is four Chinese letters, and a hole!!

[Chris Perkins 223]

The fact that you have seen 5 in your short life doesn't mean they are all blank. Anyone out there with more 'Cash' knowledge??

[Emperor Oli 0]

On this page, some have a blank obverse, others have lettering on it

[william 0]

On this page, some have a blank obverse, others have lettering on it

Well, I can't find an exact match of my one on that site, but this one is the closest there is:

[Half Penny Jon 0]

I didn't know anything about Chineese coins until now. Well, you know what they say, you learn something new every day!

[william 0]

I didn't know anything about Chineese coins until now. Well, you know what they say, you learn something new every day!

Yeah, I didn't know a thing about Chinese coins until I started this thread, and now I know a lot!

[mint_mark 3]

Here's another bit then... these coins were all made by casting. I saw some moulds in the British Museum once... they poured liquid metal in and made about 20 coins at a time. Then they have to cut the coins apart and file off the sprues, but sometimes they dig up whole sets still attached to each other.

[william 0]

How strange, it dosn't look like it's been made with a mould!

[Emperor Oli 0]

The end product looks good anyway!

[Guest Kevin]

This cash coin in qurstion is Japanese. (1600s-1800s)

The one shown by William if I remember correctly is Chinese and struck (~600-800 AD)

[Guest kevin/ccg]

Oops, that's the second one that's Chinese.

[william 0]

So my coin is Japanese, thanks a lot Kevin!