Chinese cash coin at elementary school

[sgtled3533]

So I am a gold prospector, turned metal detector since the last few months. I live in central California, so not as old of an area as a lot of you on the east coast, but there's been some decent stuff pulled out of the area. I've found a few silver Rosie's and lots of wheat cents. Tons of clad and a few rings (mostly silver or junk). However, tonight I went out for a quick hunt before the sun went down. Went to an elementary school in the middle of suburbia close to the house. The sun was just about to leave me in the dark when I got my last target I decided to dig. Was a solid 74 on the Gold Bug Pro DP....just assumed it was a penny but I dig everything, so it doesn't matter. This was no penny though! As soon as I saw the square notch, I knew exactly what I had! My first Chinese coin. Pretty stoked. Now if I could just date it or find out something about it, I would be a lot happier! If anyone can help, please let me know! Goes to show, good finds can be anywhere! Happy diggin folks..

 

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[04jeep]

Nice find. Do you ever hunt where there tearing out for the high speed rail?

 

[against the wind]

Very cool,,
Congratulations

 

[vpnavy]

Nice find! I searched

and found a bunch of hits trying to ID coins - here is just one Chinese coin? (Sep 26, 2010)...

 

[trapperart]

Nice find congrats

 

[Benjamin52]

I live in Taiwan for studies currently, I'm fluent in Chinese but my reading sucks, nonetheless I have found similar coins detecting here so I have a bit of practice at ID'ng them. Give me a day and I will look up the symbols and ID it for you. For now I can tell you it is 99% sure that its a Qing dynasty coin because of the Manchurian symbols on the back, so probably late 19th early 20th century if it is real.

update: ID done-> see 2 posts below

 

[JeffInMass]

Totally agree that good finds can be made anywhere- Congrats to you!!

-- Jeff --

 

[Benjamin52]

Ok, got it! Its a 同治痛寶 (tong zhi tong bao) cash coin minted under Qing emperor Tong Zhi between 1856 and 1875. More info about the emperor here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongzhi_Emperor

For more detailed info on where it it was minted an expert would probably have to see it but it is likely impossible to narrow it down more provided the cash coins had very little other information on them.

(update: He was born 1856 but ascended to the throne 1861 at age 5 so the coin had to be minted between 1861 and 1875 - in the 14 year period of his short reign)

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice coin find!

 

[sgtled3533]

Nice find. Do you ever hunt where there tearing out for the high speed rail?

I haven't yet but I would really like to. I'm not sure how to go about doing that without getting in trouble. Maybe a night mission is in order haha. Let me know if you'd like to go! I'm game!

 

[sgtled3533]

Thank you to everyone that has responded!! I really appreciate it! I was really shocked at where this thing came out of the ground. It was literally the last target I was digging. There were two young boys that came up to me minutes before asking "what are you doing....why!?" I told them I was looking for metal coins and jewelry. I scanned around and got a target I assumed was a penny and told them, "ok this is probably a coin...most likely a penny. When I get it out, I will give it to you..." soooo, when I pulled this out, I kinda had to not act excited and gave them both a nickel from earlier in the hunt I had lol. Those little guys were my lucky charms!

 

[sgtled3533]

Ok, got it! Its a 同治痛寶 (tong zhi tong bao) cash coin minted under Qing emperor Tong Zhi between 1856 and 1875. More info about the emperor here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongzhi_Emperor

For more detailed info on where it it was minted an expert would probably have to see it but it is likely impossible to narrow it down more provided the cash coins had very little other information on them.

(update: He was born 1856 but ascended to the throne 1861 at age 5 so the coin had to be minted between 1861 and 1875 - in the 14 year period of his short reign)

Thank you SO much!!!! I did a little research last night and found one that looked ALMOST like mine, but one of the characters was a little different...I think. However, from my research, I assumed I had roughly the same time period (1860s) so now I am happy to read that I was right. Thanks again so much for looking into this find! -SGT-

 

[Mackaydon]

The production period can be further narrowed to 1862-1874 (Hartill 2005, p. 394-404). The inscription, 'Tongzhi bao' means circulating treasure of Tongzhi. The same inscription is on 1-cash, 5-cash and 10-cash coins of this period.
The reverse side indicates the mint .I'd favor the Board of Revenue in Beijing, but the Chengdu mint in Sichuan province would be my close second guess.
Don...

 

[04jeep]

I haven't yet but I would really like to. I'm not sure how to go about doing that without getting in trouble. Maybe a night mission is in order haha. Let me know if you'd like to go! I'm game!

Thanks for the invite, but don't know when I can make it to Fresno. If I can fine time I will give you a holler. HH