Ta-Kuan (S.630) Ta-Kuan (S.630)


My hobby: oriental coin collecting



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1. How it all began

This hobby started in the 1970's when I was still in school. A friend of mine and I were visiting a flea market, when we noticed an old box filled with hundreds of interesting coins: coins with four Chinese characters arranged round a square hole, sometimes with mysterious writing on the reverse. They were looking different from any other coin we'd ever seen: these coins weren't neatly struck like Western coins, but cast, and you could still see the toolmarks on the rims and sometimes on the surface of the coins. Whoever brought those coins to our country, kept them in the engine room of a ship: there was engine oil and dirt all over them. The dealer was willing to sell the coins at a good price, if we would buy them all (so he got rid of this smelly box). My friend and I discussed things briefly, we counted our money and bought the whole box, without knowing what the coins actually were and what their origine was :)
(S.1099) (S.1099) spade coin (FD.178)

At home we cleaned the coins - those of you who preach not to clean coins at any time, most likely haven't seen a box filled with cash coins all covered in oil and dirt - we sorted the coins by characters, and both of us ended up with a collection of over a hundred different coins. Not a bad start for a collection! Now, all we had to do was to find out exactly WHAT we had bought. Fortunately, a dealer helped us to the title of a thin, affordable booklet ( the price was important: we were still in school!): a German book by Remmelts, that listed the most common cash coins. Most of our coins were listed in this book. Now we knew they weren't worth a fortune, but most of them were at least two hundred years old, and with the help of the booklet, we could see when these coins were issued. Some of the coins were cast over seven hundred years ago. Imagine having coins in your hands that have probably been used by a common man to buy a bowl of rice, somewhere in distant China, centuries ago!

My old school friend and I had other important things to do in life, but we never completely stopped collecting, and over the years our collection slowly grew. I managed to get myself a copy of perhaps the most well-known book on oriental cash coins, "Chinese Currency - currency of the Far East" by Fredrik Schjöth. Those of you who are in search of literature on the subject can try a search at Bibliofind.com for one of the books on my literature list, or any other book.


2. A brief introduction to oriental coin collecting

2.1 Before you start collecting...

China's numismatic history goes back a very, very long time: It is said that the first metal coins were used around 700 BC, and cash coins were used until the fall of the Chinese Empire in 1911, with the abduction of Xuan Tong Di, the last Emperor of China.
If you are interested in starting your own collection, there are some things I would like to say to you:

2.2 Grading cast coins

Grading cast coins is different w.r.t. grading struck coins. We need to understand the production process involved and the ageing process, to understand how we shoud grade cast coins.

Material: This is usually a bronze-like alloy. The metal used to cast coins varies not only geographically, but also in time. Precious metals were rarely used for coins in China. Metals used in cash coins are: Wu Shu (S.114) Iron coin from N.Sung: Yuan Yu(S.581) Mixing the metals was a craft, and not all mixtures came out as they were intended. The percentage of different metals varies for coins produced in the same time period in the same workshop. There are also variations between the different workshops. Chinese administrators set up a system of quality control, but China is a very large country. For some provinces, the composition of the metal was allowed to be different.

Casting: The metal needs a mould to be formed into coins. These moulds were made by hand, using a 'mother coin' for a reference. A mould can have nice, sharp edges at the rim and the characters, but many moulds didn't. Coins with 'weak' characters are less attractive than coins with stronger characters.
Inclusions and pinhead-sized 'pits' are normal on cast coins. Some inclusions and holes left by gas may be visible, but too many will make a coin unattractive.
Cooling the mould sometimes happened too fast, causing coins to crack directly, or short after production. A coin with a crack caused by this loses a certain amount of its attractiveness, but is still collectible.

Trimming of hole and rims: Cash coins usually have a square hole in the centre. The hole and the edges of the coins were trimmed to remove the material left by the casting process. Scratches made by tools used for this, are normal.

Aging: The structure of the metal in a cast coin is influenced by the purity of the metal, as well as the temperature of the metal when poured into the mould. Gas and inclusions allow oxygen and water vapour to penetrate deep into the metal. A cast coin cracks easily.
Depending on the environmental conditions, different types of corrosion can be found. Black, brown and dark green coloured coins are the most attractive. This type of corrosion is found on coins corroded in air. Blue and white coloured coins are usually corroded by minerals in the ground or in water. My personal opinion is to get rid of this type of corrosion, and try to neutralise the salts inside the coin.

Wear: Normal wear is caused by the way the coins were used: tied together to form a string. In a string, the coins are in contact with each other, and after a while the surface is flattened. This has happened to most cash coins, since they have been in circulation for decades, or even centuries.

To grade a coin, you will have to consider both the original qualtity at the time of production, and the changes the coin has undergone since that time. Some types of coins were cast under very primitive circumstances, and cannot be found in a good quality, even if the coin is well preserved.
Below is an indication how to grade a cash coin:

Grade Description Condition Legend Patina
Good: This once was a cash coin. Quite worn, or cracked Barely readable Spoiled by mineral salts or harsh cleaning
Fine: This coin has a story to tell. Corroded, showing much wear All brushstrokes discernible Not attractive
Very Fine: A nice coin. Some wear or corrosion All brushstrokes sharp and clear Nicely and evenly coloured
Extremely Fine: A lovely coin. No signs of wear, no damage Sharp and clear Beautiful
Uncirculated: An excellent coin. Bright and shiny Highly detailed seed or mother coin -


2.3 Identifying cash coins

Unless you can read Chinese, the legends on the first cash coin you'll see will be a mystery to you. After a while, you'll recognise some of the more common characters that appear on the obverse of many coins.
So you start wondering: what do they mean? In which order do I read the characters? How can I find out when and where these coins were issued?
The best thing to do is to read some literature first. Depending on your budget you can go to your library, or to your bookshop, and start looking for a reference book. If you have one, look at the China pages of your World Coin Catalog. It is not a specialised catalogue, but you can find some useful information there.
Other books include:
One of the things you will find out is that there is no country name on a cash coin. And even if there would be one, it would be of little help to us, since the borders have changed over the centuries. Not surprising, since the timeline spans about 2,500 years ;-)
Another thing you will learn is that most coins have a 'reign title' on the obverse. This is the name given by the King or Emperor to a specific period. Some emperors changed their reign title frequently, others used just one.
The coins that don't have a reign title on the obverse, are either old (before the Tang Dynasty period: 618 - 907 AD), or not Chinese. Japanese and Korean coins have less variation in their coin legends than Chinese.
For coins that have the reign title on the obverse, the characters are at the top(T), bottom(B), left(L) and right(R) position. the most common order in which one should read the characters is: T-B-R-L. A small number of coins has the legend written in clockwise order (T-R-B-L).
A good book on Chinese coins has a table with reign titles that appear on coins. If you have one, make a photocopy of that table for quick reference.


To be continued

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Last update: July, 2004

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