Ji vs Yi

harasha

Recently obtained two Ming pieces. However, I am not sure if the vendor was correct in identifying the character on the reverse. On this first coin, the vendor says Ji, but I think it is Yi. For those who are more familiar with Chinese characters, what do you think?

LochNESS

I googled "ancient Chinese character Ji" and the first seven results were all "Ji" but looked completely different. Firstly, I think they were Mandarin so that probably is already wrong ... I don't think Mandarin was around in the Ming dynasty was it? Secondly, and more importantly, the only difference in the name of the characters was the punctuation over the letter "I" in the name "Ji" ... I can't reproduce them on my Windows keyboard now but hopefully you get my point. It seems how you pronounce the vowel can mean different characters. In many languages, the letter J and Y are interchangeable. Perhaps this is a similar scenario? Maybe Ji and Yi are the same? Or perhaps the seller knew it was Yi but said Ji out of habit because they speak a language with no Y consonant?