Worn Cash Coin

Hey everyone, here I have an extremely worn cash coin and I wanted to see if anyone could help at all with the inscriptions. I can see a possibly faint “thong bao” on the coin but not much else. Any help is appreciated!

Hard to identify an etch-a-sketch...I can draw anything on it and say its that. I have a similar coin that was attached to a manuscript and I dare not post it as its pointless to identify it. Might want to try cleaning it to see if it reveals something, but most likely its just a piece of metal now and not worth saving...

Quote: "Quant-Geek"​Hard to identify an etch-a-sketch...I can draw anything on it and say its that. I have a similar coin that was attached to a manuscript and I dare not post it as its pointless to identify it. Might want to try cleaning it to see if it reveals something, but most likely its just a piece of metal now and not worth saving...

​Hello

Not agree with you
on the first photo I can the left and the right caracters tong bao
but not the others
maybe another photo could help or you can sometimes make the characters stand out by putting an aluminum sheet on them

Qianlong

I would say more a kan ei tsu ho
but really not sure

Quote: "gros"​

Quote: "Quant-Geek"​Hard to identify an etch-a-sketch...I can draw anything on it and say its that. I have a similar coin that was attached to a manuscript and I dare not post it as its pointless to identify it. Might want to try cleaning it to see if it reveals something, but most likely its just a piece of metal now and not worth saving...

​​Hello
​
​Not agree with you
​on the first photo I can the left and the right caracters tong bao
​but not the others
​maybe another photo could help or you can sometimes make the characters stand out by putting an aluminum sheet on them

​Sure, I saw that too and that is easily identifiable on most cash coins that are available. Its just not worth the effort and even if it turns into a rare coin, there is no real value for it to justify the time and effort...

Quote: "Quant-Geek"​​Sure, I saw that too and that is easily identifiable on most cash coins that are available. Its just not worth the effort and even if it turns into a rare coin, there is no real value for it to justify the time and effort...

​I have to disagree with you here. In my opinion there is no circumstance where identifying a coin is not worth the time, even if it is worthless. There is a fair bit of knowledge to be gained from coins and just throwing them away or melting them would be disrespectful to its history and generally just wrong in any way possible.

Generally, coins are historic pieces. Preserving and keeping history alive should be one of the goals of any coin collector (or any other collector). Destroying historic evidence is not acceptable in any way

Try leaving it in distilled water for a couple of days. Then use a toothbrush to see if it makes the characters a little more visible.

Quote: "Wertinas"​

Quote: "Quant-Geek"​​Sure, I saw that too and that is easily identifiable on most cash coins that are available. Its just not worth the effort and even if it turns into a rare coin, there is no real value for it to justify the time and effort...

​​I have to disagree with you here. In my opinion there is no circumstance where identifying a coin is not worth the time, even if it is worthless. There is a fair bit of knowledge to be gained from coins and just throwing them away or melting them would be disrespectful to its history and generally just wrong in any way possible.
​
​Generally, coins are historic pieces. Preserving and keeping history alive should be one of the goals of any coin collector (or any other collector). Destroying historic evidence is not acceptable in any way

​Trust me, I preserve A LOT of things as my interests are far and wide and I have been collecting for well over 40 years! Everything I do, while a hobby, somehow aids collectors and researchers alike. But you have to take things in context. If this was a roman coin, I would preserve it as much as I can, but if this was a US Lincoln cent, then you have to decide is it worth it. Time and effort COSTS money and for these cash coins which are plentiful, its not worth the effort, time, or the cost. There are so many of them! Do your best to identify and if you can't, decide on what you want to do with them. I wouldn't throw it away, but I'll put it aside and move on. Spend your time on something else.

He has already identified two characters, now the only thing left is to see if there are scarce or rare coins in that category, if so check to see if it is one of them, if not, chances are its an ordinary coin (and the probability is high for the latter).

Quote=1em​​Trust me, I preserve A LOT of things as my interests are far and wide and I have been collecting for well over 40 years! Everything I do, while a hobby, somehow aids collectors and researchers alike. But you have to take things in context. If this was a roman coin, I would preserve it as much as I can, but if this was a US Lincoln cent, then you have to decide is it worth it. Time and effort COSTS money and for these cash coins which are plentiful, its not worth the effort, time, or the cost. There are so many of them! Do your best to identify and if you can't, decide on what you want to do with them. I wouldn't throw it away, but I'll put it aside and move on. Spend your time on something else. ​
​He has already identified two characters, now the only thing left is to see if there are scarce or rare coins in that category, if so check to see if it is one of them, if not, chances are its an ordinary coin (and the probability is high for the latter).
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​Sorry, I didn’t want to sound rude o anything like that. What you are saying is completely right. I am just a bit sensitive when it comes to people talking about identifying coins not being worth the time, in my area there is a collector infamous for melting down around 200 German States silver coins (and not even common ones) when he got bored with them. I just kind of, you know, get a bit extreme when it comes to things like this just because I had a few bad experiences in the past. Laying to the side is obviously ok, just please don’t throw coins away.

Don't worry. I lived through the 70s and 80s when they melted down nice silver coins when the bullion value was higher than the numismatic value. It was about this time when I actually started collecting coins. I can understand your passion as things like "book burning" and other activities sicken me. Here is one of the coins that came with some manuscripts I bought. I will catalog the coin and put it away and then buy an analogous coin, in a far better condition, to add to my collection. Of course, I need to identify it first (if it is even possible after cleaning) and that will take some time as I have other priorities first, like clean and scanning the manuscript!