Oldest coin so far! Does Chinese count?

[atomicscott]

I was swinging the Xterra 505 yesterday in a spot I've hit before and pretty much started to give up on. After doing some testing in my backyard the other day, I realized just how slow I need to swing the Xterra to find the good signals in between all the trash. The site I hit was a plowed field that used to have an old house on it and 2 or 3 outbuildings of some kind. I was getting a lot of various iron/trashy signals, when I got a nice higher tone that I was able to hone in on and get a repeatable 'dime' tone (ID# was good too). I had just found an Oklahoma 'old age assistance tax token', so I was excited at what this next signal could be. I was pretty shocked when I saw a square hole in the coin. I thought 'How the hell did an old chinese coin end up here in SoCal?' So after researching, I found it is a coin from the Qing Dynasty that was made from 1875-1908. I would love to find some old silver coins, etc... but a big thrill to me is just trying to imagine a person in China with this coin is his pocket over 100 years ago, and somehow it made it's way here! That's what I love about this hobby!

 

[GeorgeinSC]

Think about all the Chinese labor that was brought in thru Angel Island in San Francisco Bay to build the transcontinental railroad. I would love to be able to go detect that Island. My cousin was at one time the Maint. Supervisor for the island and found lots of relics.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

my understanding is that alot of these chinese pennies were part of some sort or baskets that were being sold in america around the 1890s- early 1900s.... i also found one at an old farm house .. no other foriegn coins were found at that farm house.... just a theory anyway....they are kinda cool and different....

 

[atomicscott]

Interesting theory booty. There were a lot of Chinese railroad workers in this area during the late 1800's, so I figured that's how it may have got here. I have only found one other example of this particular coin online. Some say it was money they gave to the dead or 'burial money'.

 

[WXDirt]

Some say it was money they gave to the dead or 'burial money'.

In that case, I recommend small, very shallow plugs!

 

[arnie161]

Cool find i have found some of those too