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China Cash tokens

I just recently got a lot of about 200-300 of these from a estate. You could get a headache looking at them. Anyone ever had any experience with these and are any worth anything or are they more token pieces. thanks in advance.

chris

Comments

  • Values range from a few cents to a few hundred dollars, with the latter being quite uncommon.
    Roy


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  • SapyxSapyx Posts: 1,977 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I assume by "Cash coins" you mean the round cast bronze/brass coins with the square hole, and four Chinese characters around the hole.

    Collecting Cash Coins can be challenging, especially for Westerners with no knowledge of the Chinese language or culture (like me). Chinese coinage is a completely separate tradition to Western coinage, derived from ancient Greek and Roman prototypes. But they are legitimate coins, cast (not struck) in official government mints, and collecting them can be worthwhile, but you do need some good reference sources.

    Zeno.ru is an excellent database of Asian and Islamic coins, including Cash coins, but it can be a bit bewildering when all you want to do is a simple identification. A quick all-on-one-page reference site like this one is a good starting point.

    Some other basic points you need to know:

    - Not all "Chinese Cash Coins" come from China. Korea, Japan and Annam (Vietnam) all issued coins in the same style - square hole, four Chinese characters around the hole. A coin you can't identify quickly might be from one of those places.

    - Not everything that resembles a Cash Coin is an actual, genuine coin. The Chinese and their neighbouring peoples often made amulets or charms that resembled genuine coins, though they had different inscriptions or pictures. Also, Chinese funeral customs include burning money to the dead; if genuine cash coins were in short supply, imitations might be made for this purpose. Such "fake coins" have been made of even the cheapest and commonest types of Cash Coins.

    Most coin dealers around here dump all their Cash Coins in the "too hard basket" and stick a sign on the basket saying "Cash coins - $2 each". It's not at all uncommon to pull out a scarce type or mintmark from such a bargain bin - but you need to know what to look for.
    Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
    Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"

    Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD. B)
  • coffeycecoffeyce Posts: 1,050 ✭✭✭
    thank you for the large informative response. The ones im refering to are bronze/copper they range from quarter size to ike dollar size with no hole. some have ho-nan, other names or republic of china at tp and 10, 20 or 50 cash at bottom. i found about three in the large kraus book but they are very very hard to determine.

    I will try and post a decent pic of 1.

    Chris


  • << <i> ike dollar size with no hole. some have ho-nan, other names or republic of china at tp and 10, 20 or 50 cash at bottom. i found about three in the large kraus book but they are very very hard to determine. >>

    You apparently have some Republic of China (mainland - 1912-49 or so) coins, and possibly some late Imperial items circa 1890-1911. The one(s) with "Honan" on them are provincial issues. When struck Imperial coins began being issued in the late 19th Century, some were issued by the central government, and others by provinicial governments. In the earliest days of the Republic some provincial issues continued being struck. The 19th and 20th Century Krause volumes are an excellent place to begin your attribution searches.
    Roy


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  • SapyxSapyx Posts: 1,977 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>thank you for the large informative response. The ones im refering to are bronze/copper they range from quarter size to ike dollar size with no hole. some have ho-nan, other names or republic of china at tp and 10, 20 or 50 cash at bottom... >>


    Ah. These are another kettle of fish entirely. As satootoko said, these are the late Machine-struck coinage of China. Those with a dragon on them are from the Imperial period, those with flags or other symbols are from the Republic. And, as you've no doubt already discovered, there are a bewildering array of varieties and types, in both periods.

    Krause's cataloguing logic works like this: if there's no mint-name, mintmark or mint symbol on the coin anywhere, the coin gets filed in the "general issues" sections, under either Empire or Republic. But if there is any kind of provincial indicator on it, then it will get filed under that province, with Empire and Republic issues for that province lumped together. The front section of the China listing in the book gives the mintmarks which may or may not appear on the coins.

    Unfortunately, due to wear, poor strike or for other reasons, the mintmark might be obscured, or the coin might be so worn or damaged that it's impossible to determine which variety or subvariety it is. That's just the nature of this series. But there are also gems scattered among the rubble that a discerning eye can pick out.
    Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
    Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"

    Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD. B)
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