What could this be? Chinese or other Asian looking charm or something similar
WorldCoinsDmitry
Posts: 371 ✭✭✭
Not sure what to make of this one. It’s 27x29 mm and fairly thick, 8.92 grams. Appears to be made of silvered brass. There is a seam on the edges so i’m assuming sand cast. There is some design on the top and bottom of both sides that i cannot make out. Also, apologies if i have either or both sides pictured upside down.
Appreciate your thoughts, thanks
Highly enthusiastic about world coins, contemporary circulating counterfeits and unusual stuff 
0
Comments
A charm in the form of a Chinese cash coin. I think the obverse is meant to be an approximation of "Ban Liang".
The top pic is indeed an imitation of a "ban liang", a very early round-coin-with-a-square-hole made by the first emperor of China 2200 years ago. Wikipedia. Genuine ban liang are uniface, with no inscriptions on the other side. I think the reverse inscription might be based on a fractional coin from the same time period.
As to what it's made for: perhaps sold as a tourist souvenir, perhaps a good luck charm (or part thereof). I don't think the replica-maker cares what you use them for, so long as you buy some. It looks quite beaten-up, more than what one might expect from simply jostling around in a bag of mixed foreign coins for a while, but I have seen other replicas of this same type with a similar appearance, so I'd assume it's simply the maker attempting to "make them look old" by whacking them with a blunt instrument a few times.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded the DPOTD twice.
Thank you both for the insight
Highly enthusiastic about world coins, contemporary circulating counterfeits and unusual stuff