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F5 finds my oldest coin, ever...

DIGGER27

In Memory Of
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Messages
15,649
Location
Alabama, by way of Detroit, Tampa Bay, Alabama and
Aaaaaaand it's Chinese.
Wish it was from this country but it will hold a place in my collection until I find an american coin to replace it.

Minted between 1736-1795 so at the very least it is 225 years old and not in bad shape.

1 Cash - Qian Long Tong Bao coin... Boo-Chiowan mint.
Bronze alloy, nice and dark and thought about tumbling or scrubbing it to bring out the lighter bronze color but I think I will leave it the way it is.

Found in a neighbor's lawn of all places, I have found coins from several different countries in the lawns of my neighbors for some reason.
You just never know what cool things you can find around here.

A gazillion of these made so not worth much, maybe $1-$2 or so, but my first chinese coin and a very old one at that so I am happy.
 

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digger-27, these are found all over the USA (especially where Chinese coolies emigrated in the gold rush and RR worker times to the USA). And the dates on the coins can go back as far as even the 1500's. Yet have utterly no correlation to their arrival or loss or circulation here in the USA.

Apparently they were stored in barrels in China, and not broken out for usage until someone planning a long-distance permanent move (to the USA). So the dates have utterly no bearing on their time of circulation.

But still fun to find. Because when you find these, you know you're in an area/strata of 1900-ish or earlier .
 
digger-27, these are found all over the USA (especially where Chinese coolies emigrated in the gold rush and RR worker times to the USA). And the dates on the coins can go back as far as even the 1500's. Yet have utterly no correlation to their arrival or loss or circulation here in the USA.

Apparently they were stored in barrels in China, and not broken out for usage until someone planning a long-distance permanent move (to the USA). So the dates have utterly no bearing on their time of circulation.

But still fun to find. Because when you find these, you know you're in an area/strata of 1900-ish or earlier .

Yep, as I mentioned so many were made and this is one of the most common Chinese coins found in this country.
Could have been a collectable lost by one of the people that lived in the house in the lawn I found it, could have been lost by someone travelling through this area a few hundred years ago long before there was civilization around here.
It was deep enough to be either but no way to know for sure so I will just believe the latter...because I just want to.
The date range, however, is correct no matter what so I will count it as my oldest coin no matter how or when it got here.
Love this hobby!
 
digger-27, these are found all over the USA (especially where Chinese coolies emigrated in the gold rush and RR worker times to the USA). And the dates on the coins can go back as far as even the 1500's. Yet have utterly no correlation to their arrival or loss or circulation here in the USA.

Apparently they were stored in barrels in China, and not broken out for usage until someone planning a long-distance permanent move (to the USA). So the dates have utterly no bearing on their time of circulation.

But still fun to find. Because when you find these, you know you're in an area/strata of 1900-ish or earlier .
Interesting research TOM. This tells me the Chinese were devaluing their currency even back then. They have a long history of it in signs of chaos. Keep it in barrels , not for general circulation. Give it to the people who are basically leaving the country forever. Let them convince other people that it's worth something out here in trade. Cannibalism of there own currency. Would shop owners outside of the Chinese culture accept these in trade around rail camps ? 🤔
 
Ive found them at high schools, 1940’s houses and a few early 1900 houses. I always enjoy finding them. Congrats on yours


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ummm, is that the same "foreign coin" I just got a couple weeks ago included with my made-in-China shrxy GP-Pointer II ?
 

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Ummm, is that the same "foreign coin" I just got a couple weeks ago included with my made-in-China shrxy GP-Pointer II ?

Spin it to the right 1/4 turn...that's how you read it.
Yours is a little younger, also the Qing Dynasty...I think.
Kuang Hsu T'ung Pao, coin 1875-1912
Huang Hsu was the emperor, symbols are read in this order...top, bottom, right, left.

https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/1346116

Interesting fact...the symbol on the left is Pao or Bao, depending on the dialect, means treasure or treasury.
The top part with the line and the little nub sticking up from the middle is supposed to be the top of a treasure chest.
 

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Thanks for the research. Holy cow is it really that old!? I figured this was a knock off of a real coin and no more interesting than a chuck-e-cheese token...
 
I found what I guess was a Chinese coin that had a triangular hole in the center. It wasn't in any of my foreign coin books and no one knew what it was. I never did find out but lost it years ago.
 
Interesting research TOM. ....

Kobenstein , there is a humorous story of some archies up in the pacific northwest somewhere (Washington? Oregon ?) who were digging around some pre-history Indian midden sites. And one of these Chinese cache coins turned up in a spot that was supposed to be pre-European-contact (ie.: pre-history). They had the symbols translated, and it turned out to be a cache coin from something like the 1500 or 1600s.

They were besides themselves with glee, thinking that they now had proof that the Chinese beat out the Spanish and other Europeans, for exploration along this part of the coast. Because they simply assumed that the date of mintage correlated to the time-of-circulation / loss.

But the truth is (if they had asked any seasoned md'r), that these coins, yes with dates as far back as the 1500 & 1600s show up at all sort of gold rush sites or RR worker bee spots. Wherever the Chinese emigrants came to. And have utterly no bearing on when the coins were circulated and lost.

But the archies, bless their little hearts, never consult the evil md'rs knowledge base, eh ? :roll:
 
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