xcopperstax
Silver Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2018
- Messages
- 2,508
- Reaction score
- 4,873
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett AT Max
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Sunday I had a 4 hr window to go dig some holes. After 4 spots and very little to show (one pendant or fishing lure?) for it I was getting frustrated. At the first spot my pin pointer ran out of batteries or so I thought. So I left to get a new battery. I put in the fresh battery at spot #2 and it still wouldn't work. I do believe it's broken. It reminded me of the first 1-2 years I detected with no pin pointer. It's tough to go back to that tedious life of toil.
Last spot #5 with about half an hour and I told myself just find one coin. A 1903 IHP popped out to my surprise. Okay my day was made. Next hole I dug a signal that sounded like it had IHP potential but it turned out to be a Chinese "cash coin!" I had not ever found one up to this point so this was exciting! These coins don't get too much hype because they are not rare, not big, and contain no artwork to get excited about... a little boring to look at. The neat thing is that they can be really old but show up in new sites. They were often in circulation long after they were made. I was able to look this one up and to my delight it was made under Emperor Qianlong 1736-1795! Interestingly the coins have no date it's just the time period during that rulers reign that they are attributed. This coin is almost like a KGII and III at the same time because his rule was so lengthy! The coins were cast and then put on a square rod to file down the edges. It's probably the only cast coin I've ever found and potentially my oldest as I have some dateless KGII's. Qianlong was probably one of the most powerful rulers in the entire world at the time. Among many interesting things about the guy he initiated a gun buy back program - possibly the first of it's kind, he was an avid / insatiable collector of art and used all means to get the art. He would look at a persons collection, then criticize it and remind them that this dishonor could be fixed by giving him some of the artworks. Refusing an emperor was not an option. How's that for absolute power? He also engaged in thought policing and had thousands of people who would go through books and test each sentence to see if it stood against his dynasty in any way. If it didn't then the author was safe. If it did they were tortured to death or if you were already dead they'd desecrate your body. Qianlong was surely a product of his times who did what many would do with that kind of power: he used it at every turn. China has changed a lot since those days but the more things change the more they stay the same. This one is going with my colonial coppers! Thanks for reading.
Last spot #5 with about half an hour and I told myself just find one coin. A 1903 IHP popped out to my surprise. Okay my day was made. Next hole I dug a signal that sounded like it had IHP potential but it turned out to be a Chinese "cash coin!" I had not ever found one up to this point so this was exciting! These coins don't get too much hype because they are not rare, not big, and contain no artwork to get excited about... a little boring to look at. The neat thing is that they can be really old but show up in new sites. They were often in circulation long after they were made. I was able to look this one up and to my delight it was made under Emperor Qianlong 1736-1795! Interestingly the coins have no date it's just the time period during that rulers reign that they are attributed. This coin is almost like a KGII and III at the same time because his rule was so lengthy! The coins were cast and then put on a square rod to file down the edges. It's probably the only cast coin I've ever found and potentially my oldest as I have some dateless KGII's. Qianlong was probably one of the most powerful rulers in the entire world at the time. Among many interesting things about the guy he initiated a gun buy back program - possibly the first of it's kind, he was an avid / insatiable collector of art and used all means to get the art. He would look at a persons collection, then criticize it and remind them that this dishonor could be fixed by giving him some of the artworks. Refusing an emperor was not an option. How's that for absolute power? He also engaged in thought policing and had thousands of people who would go through books and test each sentence to see if it stood against his dynasty in any way. If it didn't then the author was safe. If it did they were tortured to death or if you were already dead they'd desecrate your body. Qianlong was surely a product of his times who did what many would do with that kind of power: he used it at every turn. China has changed a lot since those days but the more things change the more they stay the same. This one is going with my colonial coppers! Thanks for reading.
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I've found myself and did not think much of it at the time because everything is old in China.
