Need some ID help on a cash

Blackhawk

Does anyone have any ideas on this one's ID. The reverse doesn't seen to have much on it other than a die crack...maybe a bit of a marking on the right side, but I can't tell if it's anything or not. The piece is about 25mm in diameter.

Aethelred

I may be wrong, but that looks like one of the really old ones, 1600s or before.

lordmarcovan

Yeah, it has that look. It certainly appears to have been in the ground at one time.

But I dunno the attribution. Without books to compare the squigglies, I'm helpless.

PS- I believe that IS a marking on the reverse. And I like the die (mold) crack.

coachleonard

i'm ALMOST certain it's a Chinese Cash of Shao Hsing 1131-63, BUT the bottom characters don't EXACTLY match the bottom characters of the plate i see in my handy Chinese Cash identification guide

Sapyx

OK, I'm no cash coin expert, but I think I'm onto something here.

The top character does indeed look like "Shao" of Shao Hsing, but the bottom character looks like "Zhi" as used by the Ming emperor Hong Zhi. Right and left are "tong bao" as normal.

So I ran a Google search for "Shao Zhi Tong Bao" and up comes this reference to a Vietnamese (Annamese) cash coin seller; he's got a coin much like yours for sale. There's also a long-expired (but still Google-cached) eBay auction which gives a Krause number: KM/C 141.1 (or 141.2), as well as all the specialist Vietnamese catalogue numbers. Unfortunately, Krause has done a renumbering on us since then.

Eventually, I found it in my Krause: Vietnam, 19th century, KM#253 (or 253a), with a footnote "Craig 141.1 and 2". It's King Thieu-Tri (1838-1845). Thieu Tri is apparently the Vietnamese pronounciation of the Chinese characters we've called Shao Zhi. KM#253 is "large" (over 24mm), 253a is "small" (less than 24mm).

(Edited for clarity of thought... in other words, spelling and grammar errors.)

ColinCMR

I can't find it in schjoth

it looks like it could be shao-shun tung bao, or shao lo tung bao

but i'm definitely a novice at this

sumnom

It's Annamese (Vietnam). Toda 229. Thieu Tri 1838-1845.

Also, it's uniface.