Help in identification of Chinese coin

radtex2

I haven't tried to attach an image before so I hope this works. Any pointers are appreciated.
thanks
Frank

Sapyx

Ah. An Empire period "Tai Ch'ing Ti Kuo Copper Coin". One of the dang-hardest-to-make attributions in the Chinese series. This one's dated by the cyclical calendar to 1907. The general type is KM# (Y#) 10, but which particular variety of this coin is much harder to pin down.

First step is to narrow down the province of issue. Have a very close look at the large dot in the centre of the side without the dragon. There's an incuse mintmark character there. I can't make it all out on the photo there - it looks like three vertical strokes, but there may be more detail above this that's invisible in the photo. There's not much further specific help I can give you without a zoom-in pic of the central dot, but I can tell you what to look for.

If you've got a 20th century Krause, turn to the page at the start of the China listing with the column headed "Provincial mint names". In the 33rd ed, its on page 345-346. The single characters in the right-hand column are the mintmarks which appear in the dot on these coins. Try to match the character on your coin with one in the book.

If you find a match, look up that province and see if you can find a version of Y#10 dated 1907 in that listing. There may even be several; varieties, based on a die variation on the dragon side or whatever.

Good hunting!

Sapyx

Without a closer look at the central dot, the best match I can find is Kiangnan province. They issued lots of varieties in 1907 (KM/Y# 10k.5 through to 10k.9a) and the mintmark shape isn't an impossible match. The variations are all on the reverse, such as the shape of the Dragon, the number of flames around the pearl and other details.