Eighty-nine cast brass coins strung together, all of them inscribed on obverse with different reign titles of the Qing emperors: 'Qianlong', 1736-95, 'Jiaqing', 1796-1820, 'Daoguang', 1821-50, and 'Tongzhi', 1862-74; followed by 'tongbao' which means 'circulating treasure' or 'coin'. The inscription reads from top to bottom, then right to left around the square hole. All have Manchu script inscribed on reverse.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
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