Drilled Chinese Coin with Attatchment - Strange

[winslow]

I thought this was just another Chinese coin until I got home and cleaned it up. It looks like a coin that someone made into a medallion of some sort. It's drilled so I assume it was worn on a chain at one time. Any ideas what this means? How old? The back doesn't even look like a coin. I'm perplexed but I usually am with Chinese coins anyway!

 

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[A2coins]

Cant help you with indentification very interesting though I seem to find a lot of Chinese and japenese coins like someone sprinkled them around or something I always think they are an old coin till I see the hole in the middle . This could be a nice find just the fact that it was made into a necklace or whatever it was Good Find!!!

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Thats a japanese coin. Kan ei tsu ho.
stuck to it appears to be two 2 shu silver coins. one on each side.

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Actually the square coin appears to be a "man-en-2 shu-ban-kin"
Kin means GOLD.
That coin is 22.9 percent gold, and 77.1 percent silver.
The 2016 Japan mint guide lists that coin at the bottom end at about 40 bucks.
could you measure that little square coin just for confirmation?

 

[Chizzy]

Cant help you with indentification very interesting though I seem to find a lot of Chinese and japenese coins like someone sprinkled them around or something I always think they are an old coin till I see the hole in the middle . This could be a nice find just the fact that it was made into a necklace or whatever it was Good Find!!!

Difficult to tell, but the character in the 10 o'clock position of the photo appears to be the Japanese symbol "ei" and the one at the 1 o'clock position "hou".........
That would make the coin a "mon" or 4 mon. It is a cast copper coin. The only way to determine the age would be the number of "waves" on the other side (if they can be seen). 11 waves would make it from 1769 to 1820..........22 waves would make it older. The only reason I know...........found one dirt fishing last year and did some research.
Here are the pics..........


Worth about $10 in good condition...........

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Here's what David Hartill has to say:

 

[winslow]

Wow .. I just assumed it was Chinese. I had found an old Chinese coin about 200 ft from where I found this.
A weird find for southern Oregon! The length of the coin is approx 12mm and width is approx 7 mm. Can you estimate a date range?

Why would a coin be attached to a coin? Was that common practice in Japan or did someone decide to do this on their own?

I see no sign of waves on the back mentioned by Chizzy. Thanks!

Actually the square coin appears to be a "man-en-2 shu-ban-kin"
Kin means GOLD.
That coin is 22.9 percent gold, and 77.1 percent silver.
The 2016 Japan mint guide lists that coin at the bottom end at about 40 bucks.
could you measure that little square coin just for confirmation?

 

[Discrimination Dave]

12mm, most definitely a man-en-2 shu-ban-kin.
date 1860 to 1869
My guess is the three coins were fused together by laying in contact with each other for many years. It happens often. Also, they are attached in really random positions.
really cool find.

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Not all kan ei tsu ho coins had waves on the back. those coins were produced for over 200 years and only for a handful of years near the end of those two hundred years did they have waves. Pinning down the date of that kan ei tsu ho coin will be a lot tuffer.
There are some " foreign coin experts" on this site who have suggested that all kan ei tsu ho coins are valued at two to five bucks. Could not be further from the truth. Some of them are valued into the hundreds and even thousands of dollars. They are an interesting study.
LOTS of Japanese people in Oregon and Washington. Japan was bombarded with chinese coins for hundreds of years and they were common currency here.

 

[winslow]

Man you've been super helpful! Your theory about the fusing makes a lot of sense. It would have been really difficult to detect the 2 shu coin all by itself but I know right where I found it so I better go back and make sure the area is clean. I wonder why no waves on back of the copper coin?? The 2 shu may be low quality gold but it's still gold. I think it calls for a gold dance! Thanks for making my day!!

12mm, most definitely a man-en-2 shu-ban-kin.
date 1860 to 1869
My guess is the three coins were fused together by laying in contact with each other for many years. It happens often. Also, they are attached in really positions.
really cool find.

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Here it is as listed in the Catalog of Japanese Coins and Bank Notes 2016, often referred to as (JNDA).
Its the official guide for pricing and is the standard at all coin shops, collectors, etc in Japan.

top end price for pristine coins marked by 上. Mid range marked by中. and bottom end, such as yours marked by下 .
Notice there is a rare type in circulation that ranges from 900 to 400 dollars. (those prices listed in Yen, or roughly 1 cent, so you have to stick a decimal point in there at .00. 4000 yen equals 40 dollars).
Give me 24 hours to find out more about that rare type, unless someone else can inform about it till then.

 

[Discrimination Dave]

The rare type is referred to as "reversed punched" but Im not clear on it and have found no examples