Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-01-17
A RARE CHINESE COlN.
A New York Numismatst Reads Its Mystic
Characters
New York sun

In the treasury experiments VI slLAo7J /
all countries of the world a set Of coins, !
represt n,iug the entire series of coinage |
OF the nation, il kept BY the government, I
and when centuries OF time hiss passed |
come Of these rare old coins become ex
tremely valuable. As with the United |
States government III this regard, 20 IL II
With Cniua, the oldest OF all empires A.
presentex,s.ing on the face OF the earsh.
10 the collection of coins and money III
various forms in Pekin, China, the
Chinese government has many pieces
dating back hundreds and even thousands
of years.
There is ia the collection of Prof. +. M.
Worth of this city one of these Old
Chinese coins, which ID perhaps without
ooubt t1e oldest as well as the most rare
# ali foreign coins in the possession OF
bumismarists in this country or IN Eu
rope. II is OF such unique and peculiar
d. sign and possesses such an interesting
history that the story it telis and the
manner ia which 1t came into the pos
session Of its present owner are inter
est'ng.
The Chinese value of the piece is about
1000 cash, or, at an average valuation of
mat hucluating c0in-Chinese cash
about twenty dollars Of American money.
Inc coin is wiihout du plicate in this or
any other civilized country, and Prof.
Worth has been told upon good authority
nat the Chinese government has not a
duplicate of 1t.
In diameter this curious piece of money
measures 238 inches, and it. il about an
eighth OF an inch in thickness. The
metal is com position supposed TO be-
gold 81 YER, aud copper, but what
proportions cannot be arc-rt aiueG with
out an assay, and this, from the fact that
10 would necessitate the mutilation OF
he coin, oarDot, of course, be thought of.
Ga the face Of the piece are twelve ami
ma s, represented il the quaint Sty
peculiar 10 the ma iou from which II
comes A rabolt leads the proc, ion
around the coin and il FOLLOWED by
ourious-lookinR animal very much re
sembhug the cat. CHINESE COW with
five legs and minus tbe tail follows in the
wake of the feline sleep disturber, and l.
in turn superseded by a peculiar animal
which might be taken for q nog, au ant
bear, or wild boar. Next ia prooes sion
comes a stif-leRRed dog with shg neck
and awkward carriage He doesn't look
comfortable and has the appearance of
trying TO look both ways at once. A
sportive sat Of the Thomas gender, with
tail erect aud a boastfui strut, drags Ia
broken hind leg after him with the great.
est Of e8se.
sotting hen with her feet glued fast
20 the ground next claims attention.
She has been sitting there for more than
forty centuries and has nothing to show
for it yet. Close in the wake of thia IN.
pAraled exam pie of patience aud virtue
comes the terrible Chinese dragon with q
handful of 5ottou tied 10 mia tail, which
ne wags in defiance, while grim smile,
Indicating COM ciOusness of superiority
over other drag Gus overs preaos his benign
couutenRnce. A threr-eared mule and
lamb az large "a n heller come next, and
the pr0cesslOn still moves on. II moves
slowly, however, for liz the rear comes
corkaerew snake, which manages 10 keep
up with the party whichever way they
turn the coin. Now this Interpretation
cannot be far from CORRECT, fer the re-
porter who read IT can read pure Chinese
and can tell easily whether laundry
check calls for half dozen collars or his
otner shirt.
But, seriously, the coin il said to rep
resenr-and has been SD read aud in
terpreted by number of learned Chinese
in this country the journey ing from the
ark OF these animals. This interp-ata
ton is rather startling, from the fact
that the Chinese are Buddhists, and we're
not supposed TO know aBght of the
Christian religion or its writings. Be
This correct or otherwise, there is no
doubt IA 10 the Translation of the writing
uuon the coin. 1t shows it TO have been
coined under the reign of Confucius /,
and places its date at between $50 and
$500 years before the CHRISTIAN era.
This fixes it's pge at about 4 350 years, or
more than forty-two centuries.
At the date of this issue no part of the
world WAS known 20 mankind, 40 far as
our annals show, save What * known as
Palestine and ancient Greece and Italy.
When a moments thought is devoted to-
the history of the intervening time and
the discoveries and chang. that nave
taken place duriog the life of this piece,
its value and rarity can be better imagin
ed than described.
Through an empIove OF the Chinese
govern ment, ear in the present century
the coin was surreptiuou=ly removed
from its cabinet, and found is wag by
descent for many generations. until 1852,
when It was purchased by Prot, Worth
from the then owner. The price paid was
s. 500 and it's numismstio value Is now
said 20 oe several thousand dollars. OF
course it. Ia not for sale, and perhaps
never Will be.
The reverse side Of the piece repre-
sents the great wall of China, and Is GOV
cred with symbols, almost entirely OBJ
liberated by time. Altog ether It IL an II
ter sting relic and well worth seeing.
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