Ding Fubao (1874-1952)

sumnom

I found this pic of the good Mr. Ding and thought I would share it. I would not be able to get through collecting Chinese cast coins without his work.

ColinCMR

I still have to get his book / some kind of copy of it, it's cool to put a face to the name!

sumnom

It's a great book. I don't have Schjoth yet but I have been using Ding for a few years. His book frequently pops up on ebay, among other places. Do you have Fisher's Ding? I have never seen it before.

I really like the way he looked. Nice beard.

sumnom

Here is his bio. He was quite the scholar. I didn't realize he wrote so widely.

Numismatics

<< <i>Here is his bio. He was quite the scholar. I didn't realize he wrote so widely. >>


Thanks for the link.

sumnom

It seems there is quite a lot about him on the net, now that I start looking.

ColinCMR

I have a photocopy of Schjoth's 1929 book and I had it bound at Staples, works well, one bound for the diagrams another for the written listings. I think the copyright is up, so it's legal and ethical i guess.

I'm still looking for a cheap copy/photocopy of Fisher's Ding

It makes me want to learn the language, do you have any advice on starting to do that? I can't really take an additional course yet, but do you know if there are books or anything that are good starts?

He does have a Far east sage look.

sumnom

Does Schjoth's book have rubbings or are the coins drawn? I have heard that they are drawn, which is most unfortunate if true.

Are you in school now, Colin? Starting Chinese on your own might be tough. The grammar is not too hard but it can take a while to get a grip on the characters.

Ding's book, as far as I can tell, is in Classical Chinese, or at least something very close to it, and not in modern colloquial Chinese. Fisher's Ding, I have been told, give the coin ID's and catalgue numbers but does not provide a translation of Dings comments. Although Ding's comments are not terribly extensive they are fun to read and usually taken from older sources, which he cites. Reading through Ding, you can get an idea of the vast numismatic literature that has existed in the Chinese states for a very long time. I don't know how many of these texts are available but it would be fun to get some of them.

satootoko

<< <i>Does Schjoth's book have rubbings or are the coins drawn? I have heard that they are drawn, which is most unfortunate if true. >>

It's true. I borrowed a copy from the ANA library last year.

<< <i>Fisher's Ding, I have been told, give the coin ID's and catalgue numbers but does not provide a translation of Dings comments. >>

I have a 250-plus page 8-1/2 x 11 loose leaf copy of Fisher's Ding (copyright 1990) which I purchased on EBay. It seems to be a photocopy of a volume written entirely in Chinese, with the addition of what I assume to be Fisher's own partial translations and IDs. Each page of Fisher copies two pages of the original, and Fisher has several additional pages.

The title page of the original has a legend in Chinese which the Beautiful Bride reads as "History and Explanation of Old Money". It also says in what I assume to be Fisher's handwriting: "Lidai Gu Qian Tu Shuo (Dynastic Old Coins Illustrated and Described)" and "Ding Fubao's Seal". I'm guessing that to be an English rendition of the Chinese reading of the characters.

sumnom

It sounds like I am better off just sticking to the original Ding. I don't think I'll have much use for Schjoth. It would be nice to know what all those S numbers refer to though. It seems that Schjoth is easily obtainable at abebooks.com if anyone is interested. I have not tried searching for FD though.

Ding also compiled a "dictionary" of Chinese coins. I found that a Chinese bookstore in Seoul carries it so I think I will fetch myself a copy tomorrow when I go into the city. I hope they have in reailty, not just virtually. I'll tell you how it works out.