First look at the casting materials.
Of course, the material for casting copper is copper. Among all kinds of copper, red copper is the most common and brass is rare. In order to reduce costs and gain more profits, some provinces cast a large number of copper coins with low copper fineness, such as "Qing Copper Coin" Center 20 and Fengtian Guangxu Copper Coin, but there are few red copper coins.
In addition, the copper coins privately cast by the people are mostly brass. White copper coins and lead copper coins with neat and exquisite casting and white color as silver are mostly sample coins, which are rare.
Second, look at the face value.
There are many denominations of copper coins, among which one, two, five, twenty, fifty, one hundred, two hundred and five hundred are worthy of attention. "Guangxu Yuanbao" is a thirty-character copper coin in Sichuan. Because its face value does not conform to folk customs, it is rare that there are only a dozen pieces left in the world.
Twenty "Qing Copper Coins" Xuan Tong, five Guangdong "Guangxu Yuanbao", twenty Jiangnan Chen Jia "Guangxu Yuanbao" and five hundred Henan "Republic of China Double Flags" are all rare treasures.
Third, look at the process of coinage.
Copper coins are generally cast by machines, so they are called "machine-made copper coins". However, in some places, because they can't afford machines, they simply use folk methods to cast coins or privately, resulting in copper coins not being a mechanism. For example, the "sand copper coin" cast by the traditional sand turning method, the semi-mechanical coin cast by hand, and the copper coin made by hand. Most of these non-machine cast copper coins are the products of the transitional period, and the number of castings is small, which has certain collection value.
In addition, copper coins generally have no holes in the middle, so copper coins with holes in the middle are particularly noteworthy, especially those with square holes. Among them, the "Guangxu Yuanbao" with ten copper coins is the rarest square hole in Anhui, and it is estimated that the number of surviving pieces will not exceed 10, which is known as "the first-class treasure".
Fourth, see if it is wrong.
Common printing forms of copper coins are: 1. English mistakes mainly include misspelled letters and misspelled words. For example, "A" is written as "A" and the word "PROVINCE" is misspelled as "PROVINEC". 2. Manchu error. For example, the official bureau of Sichuan made the "Guangxu Yuanbao" copper coin, with "Made by Sichuan Official Bureau" on the top, but the center was "Fu Bao" (Fujian Coin Bureau). 3. The front and back patterns don't match.
For example, the back of "Guangxu Yuanbao" with the picture of Qinglong is mismatched, the back of "Guangxu Yuanbao" with the picture of Longfei in Guangdong is mismatched, and the back of "Daqing Copper Coin" with the words "Guangxu Year" is mismatched. 4. Yinwen. Most of the characters on the surface of copper coins are embossed, and a few have single-sided negative lines, which is an error in the manufacturing process. 5. Fold the back and fold the copper coins. The wrong edition of copper coins deserves attention.
Fifth, look for teeth.
Under normal circumstances, the side of copper coins is smooth without any ornamentation. Most copper coins with toothed edges belong to the nature of sample coins and have collection value. However, in the 15th year of the Republic of China, Shi Wen copper coins in Jiangsu Province and Jiahe copper coins in Sichuan Province also had common products with teeth edges, which was an exception.
Sixth, look at the appearance.
Compared with the collection of copper coins, the product significance of copper coins is particularly significant. Machine-made copper coins have strict requirements on surface smoothness and even edge wire quality, and any defect will affect the collection price. The characters are clear, wear-free, the surface is smooth and bright, and there are no obvious impact marks on the edges, which can basically be regarded as good quality.
Guangxu Yuanbao was influenced by the West. Under the advocacy of Westernization Movement, during Guangxu period, various coins appeared in Qing Dynasty, including gold coins, silver coins, copper coins and paper money. The most important thing is Guangxu Yuanbao. There are two kinds of silver coins and copper coins in Guangxu Yuanbao, which are different from the traditional round hole coins in China in shape and have a strong western color, which can fully reflect the "invaded" state of social economy and culture at that time.
Guangxu Yuanbao was cast by the 19th Provincial Bureau. Except for the central household department, the copper coins cast by local provinces are engraved with the provincial names on the upper edge of the front.
Guangxu Yuanbao was the first large denomination currency in circulation during Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, and it was the first batch of printing and distribution currency in China that introduced overseas technology, which also has certain historical significance today. Among the Guangxu ingots, the most valuable is the Shuanglong Shouzi coin made in Guangdong Province: Kuping weighs one or two.
The silver coin Guangxu Yuanbao 1898- 1907 was issued, with a normal color of 89%-90%. Inscriptions are cast on the front, and the words "Made in XX Province" or "Mint General Factory" are cast on the top, and the currency value below is "Kuping, One Coin, Four Cents, Four Cents". The words "Guangxu Yuanbao" are directly read in the center, and the coin heart is Manchu.
On the back of the silver coin, the words "Made in XX Province" or "Mint General Factory" are written in small English standard font above the outer ring, the English currency value is below, and the center of the inner ring is panlong map, which has a beautiful appearance and unique aesthetic style. Small as coins are, we can also get a glimpse of social culture.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia-Guangxu Yuanbao