Can you help me with a chinese coin book recommendation...

InfiniteZero

Hello all... I have recently began collection old chinese cash coins and would like to know what the best book there is out there for identifing and dating these coins. I have the "Collecting World coins" book, but I would like a more complete reference that focuses on chinese coins. Also, I have browsed a few that just list the small cash coins with holes in them, but leave out the copper, brass, and silver dragon coins that I have fallen in love with. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
gus

satootoko

<< <i>I would like a more complete reference that focuses on chinese coins. >>

If you can find it at a reasonable price, Chinese Currency by Frederik Schjoth (out of print) is one of the most comprehensive books on Chinese coins I know of. It does concentrate on cash coins, but after all they were manufactured for well over a millenium before the coin press came along.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Can you help me with a chinese coin book recommendation... >>



No, but I can help you with a Chinese food recommendation.

Beef Lo Mein and Pork Fried Rice are both very tasty.

sumnom

Schjoth is widely used and respected among Western collectors but I have been told that a major drawback is that the images of the coins are drawings and not photographs or rubbings. What this means is that it becomes far more difficult to use Schjoth when picking out obvious fakes or variations based on calligraphy. instead of Schjoth, I use the book by Ding Fubao, which is entirely in Chinese but uses rubbings instead of drawings. Ding also is a more complete catalogue then Schjoth. A guy by the name of Fisher translated some, or maybe all, of Ding. Hence you will see references to "Fisher's Ding." Chinese and Japanese language references are the best, some being many, many volumes long. If you do not read Chinese then there is not much choice.

I know this may be a bit much but if you are interested in collecting Chinese coins, you might want to learn to read some Chinese. I have seen so many coins misidentified because many collectors are essentially illiterate. Also, having a good idea of what a character is supposed to look like will go a long way in enabling you to spot the obvious fakes. If you have a particular interest in Chinese coins, you may not have to learn very many characters to make correct id's.

Someone here posted a nice piece here once on references for Chinese coins. Who was it?

sumnom

I found the thread on books on Chinese cash. Santelia gave an excellent list of English language references.

LINK

InfiniteZero

thanks for the great info, but me personally, give me some spicy almond chicken.

ColinCMR

Thanks for that website link, I've been looking for cheap copy of Schjoth.

Conder101

Good luck on a cheap copy of Schjoth. I just bought another copy of the 1965 because the one I have is starting to fall apart and it cost me $125. There is a third printing that was done in 1970 that would be cheaper but I don't like it as well as the 1965 printing. (I now have 2 copies of 1965 and one of the 1970. Don't have a 1929 edition.)

sumnom

I think the cheap copy of Schjoth is a bound photocopy.

So, is it true that the images in Schjoth are drawings rather than rubbings or photographs?

Conder101

Yes it is true, the entire text is in the authors handwriting. I find them well done and the book very usefull.