Republic of China 1912 non-machine-made... real? [επιλυμένο]

Somebody please help me out and tell me if this is legit or not, because if it is then I might just go insane. (A good kind of insane.)



This is the coin it appears to be, to me: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces39548.html

Looks ok to me, just worn out.
70% real.
It's surely not that coin, check china empire from around 1800.

Απόσπασμα: kommodoreLooks ok to me, just worn out.
70% real.
It's surely not that coin, check china empire from around 1800.

Yes, I know it is very worn... but the moment I saw it I knew I had seen it somewhere before, and that it was a very old Asian coin, if it was real. And if it was non-machine-made as I suspect, it makes sense for it to be so worn.

I will have a look at the listings from that time period.

After further research, this one looks almost identical to the one I have, except the coloring:


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces22675.html

The only problem is that the right-hand character on the two-character side does not quite seem to match my coin. However, the only other one I can find that even remotely looks like mine is this:


https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces36377.html

This second coin has problems as compared to mine in two major ways. First, the characters are much more messy/"loose" than on mine, particularly on the left side of the front (you can see that the characters on my coin are much more straight and "neater", as per the first coin), and also the two parts of the reverse that have no characters are RAISED here, whereas on mine they are simply blank (also as per the first coin).

No later coins match my top/bottom characters at all. Of course, my next problem would be in identifying the YEAR, because not only do I not read Chinese, but this coin is VG and it's not super clear as a result. I have to admit that I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to identifying the year.

Would someone confirm what I suspect, that it is mostly likely a copy of the first coin of this post, and possibly help me with year identification if you can? This is too much for my poor little brain to handle.

Perhaps this one?

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces30298.html

Απόσπασμα: neilithicPerhaps this one?

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces30298.html

Oh my gosh, Neil, that is IT! THANK YOU!!!!

Hooray!!! I managed to ID a Chinese cast coin.  There's a first time for everything  

Απόσπασμα: nosouvenirsSomebody please help me out and tell me if this is legit or not, because if it is then I might just go insane. (A good kind of insane.)

in my view, more like .......

Qianlong, Boo-chiowan
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1133.html

Απόσπασμα: bbybugs

Απόσπασμα: nosouvenirsSomebody please help me out and tell me if this is legit or not, because if it is then I might just go insane. (A good kind of insane.)

in my view, more like .......

Qianlong, Boo-chiowan
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1133.html

The only thing that doesn't fit 100% with this ID, rather than Neil's, is that this coin has a Z-like structure to the top character's bottom loop, whereas my coin does not have the Z (it's more like a really loopy L with a tag nearer the top). So that way, it fits better with the other coin. IMO.

Απόσπασμα: neilithicHooray!!! I managed to ID a Chinese cast coin.  There's a fisrt time for everything  

This is actually the second time you've been the first to ID one of my Asian coins... you IDed what I thought was a Taiwanese coin as a Japanese one. You joked that you thought you would take the rest of the day off to celebrate.

Well if you look at the second character at the top of the coin, the coin you linked to has a flat base, the coin nosouvenirs posted looks to have a rounded base.  Which is why I chose the coin I did.  But then again I could be completely wrong.

Definitely Qianlong Boo-chiowan.

Απόσπασμα: fliegendehollanderDefinitely Qianlong Boo-chiowan.

Okay... I have critically looked at both images and I can see that the FIRST character of the set of two on the top looks more like the Boo-chiowan. But that second character is puzzling me quite a bit. In neither image is there a LARGE loop upward at the bottom the way mine has; also the Boo-chiowan has a large horizontal line that creates that Z-like shape I spoke of before, which my coin utterly lacks. It doesn't look like that line has worn away, either; it was simply never there. So how does this work, since the Boo-chiowan clearly has the Z-like shape and mine clearly doesn't?

Your coin is a variant from the Boo-chiowan coin on the catalogue. Yours is DH.22.216. If you can read Chinese the obverse is definitely Qianlong, so it is the reverse you have to focus on to determine the board of mintage. The board you see is boo-chiowan, mainly because QIanlong boo-chiowan does not have much variations, unlike the minor strokes on the obverse.

In short, Qianlong Boo-Chiowan, DH.22.216.

Απόσπασμα: fliegendehollanderYour coin is a variant from the Boo-chiowan coin on the catalogue. Yours is DH.22.216. If you can read Chinese the obverse is definitely Qianlong, so it is the reverse you have to focus on to determine the board of mintage. The board you see is boo-chiowan, mainly because QIanlong boo-chiowan does not have much variations, unlike the minor strokes on the obverse.

In short, Qianlong Boo-Chiowan, DH.22.216.

I cannot read Chinese... do you read it? Because if you do I will take your word for it. Mine does look an awful lot like that one except that stupid loop-vs-Z thing that's still driving me mental.

Yes I do, I'm also the referee for Chinese empire coins.

If you look on the Boo-chiowan page you can see all the variations in there.

Απόσπασμα: fliegendehollanderYes I do, I'm also the referee for Chinese empire coins.

If you look on the Boo-chiowan page you can see all the variations in there.

Yes, I do see all the variations (and I did not know you were the referee for this set of coins; my apologies!). However, when I made the comment earlier about my brain not being able to handle this, it was in reference to variations. When you don't read Chinese, it's hard enough to figure out what the coin IS when it's VG condition, never mind the variation.

Thank you for sparing me a very large amount of headache.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=3529

Thanks for the link.

One more question, just to close this up... are you 100% positive it's real? I'd love to have verification that it is from the referee.

And yes it's definitely real. It isn't rare or even uncommon at all though, in fact it's one of the most common Chinese coins. That said, having such an old coin is rather exciting.

Απόσπασμα: fliegendehollanderAnd yes it's definitely real. It isn't rare or even uncommon at all though, in fact it's one of the most common Chinese coins. That said, having such an old coin is rather exciting.

Yeah... it's typical that of all the old Chinese coins that I could have found, I got the most common one! But it's quite exciting to even have a coin from the 1700s. My oldest coin to date was, oh, 1881? I never thought I'd find something from 1774 in the world coin bin at the local coin store. Of course, none of them read Chinese either.

I wonder how much it is worth.

It's all demand and supply isn't it. In China it'll be on the floor of a coinshop and no one would even bend over to pick it up. In the Americans I suppose you can sell it for 50c to $1?

Απόσπασμα: fliegendehollanderIt's all demand and supply isn't it. In China it'll be on the floor of a coinshop and no one would even bend over to pick it up. In the Americans I suppose you can sell it for 50c to $1?

That's promising! I bought it for 33.33333(infinity) cents. If I wanted to sell it, I bet I could make money on it. People from North America are kind of gullible that way. I mean, look around eBay... a coin like a 1 Franc from a place like Rwanda (which obviously converts to almost nothing USD) will sell for like $1-$2 USD minimum on eBay, as long as it looks like it's decent condition. Or sometimes even if it looks a little worn. People pay out the butt on eBay...

I have quite a few of these coins and haven't made any effort to try and identify and catalogue them yet.
Maybe I should - I want 18th century coins too!!

You can PM the pictures to me. Or you can look for it yourself to get the thrill of the hunt.