🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Chinese cash coin

[demano]

Having trouble decoding this cash coin I found at an mid 1800's farm. The guide I found online seems like the side with 2 characters is all I can find. Could anyone with more expierience help? Thanks for amy info.

 

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[Red-Coat]

Good find, although sadly not valuable.

It’s a Qing (Ch’ing) Dynasty one cash coin. The two characters on the reverse give you the mint in Chinese and Manchu as “Boo Ciowan” (Pao-Ch'uan), the Board of Revenue mint in Beijing or “the fountain head of the currency".

The obverse gives you the reign period for the Emperor and it seems to be Qianlong (Ch’ien-Lung) Emperor, also known by his posthumous temple name Gaosong (Kao Tsung):

He reigned from 1735-1796 and the coin looks to be from the regular series produced between 1736-1795. He abdicated from the throne in 1796 as a mark of respect to avoid reigning longer than his grandfather’s 61 years as Emperor, but retained ultimate power as Retired Emperor until his death in 1799. Like most old Chinese cash coins, imitations were made in later times for use as charms and celebratory gifts. As far as I can tell, yours is original and the stylistic variation from the example above is likely characteristic of the later period of his reign, as per the example on the right below:

 

[demano]

Thank you for all the information, very interesting. This hobby teaches me new stuff all the time with help of this site and you all. Happy digging.