Coin and Paper Money Collecting/copper coin

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Expert: - 7/25/2011


Question
asian coin
asian coin
i have found this coin [? ] it has asian writing on it's one side and maybe the chinese zodiac on the other, any help would be gratful.thank you heather

Answer
Hi Heather,
This is indeed a Chinese amulet, showing the Zodiac characters, animals and trigrams that stand for each element in Chinese culture (i.e. water, fire, etc). This is a fairly common design on such charms and amulets. Your piece appears to be fairly modern (though they are always made to look old). The value here would be fairly low, since it is considered a novelty item by collectors. Antique pieces can be worth a good sum, though usually not with the zodiac designs.
Thanks for the question! =)

Dmitry Livshits

Expertise

My specialty is world coins from the 18th to 20th centuries, primarily non-US foreign coins and related areas such as errors and exonumia (tokens, medals, etc.). I can answer questions relating to identification, grading, selling, preservation and evaluation of such items. In addition to catalog value, I can give you the practical market value and trends for specific types of coins. I will also take questions regarding counterfeits (both modern and antique) and on how to identify them. I am NOT knowledgeable in paper money/banknotes, ancient or "shipwreck" coins. Thank you.

Experience

Collector of world coins since early childhood. Access to a variety of auction records and reference material. You can also find me on Facebook.

Education/Credentials
A.S. in Psychology (2006), B.A. in Forensic Psychology (2008), M.A. in Forensic Psychology (2011).

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