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Hello All! Can anyone identify this large jade coin medallion? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! David.

As a student of Asian art, let me offer some advice that has been shared with me.

Your coin may not even be jade, but if it is, it is of very low quality (tourist item).

Jade is the most precious material to the people of China in all of its history. Good quality jade is RARE and has always been rare.

So, a good piece of jade will ALWAYS be carved with absolute skill, and every detail beautifully polished with exacting detail.

Your coin is very roughly carved, the square cut out in the center is off centered and not perfectly square. The writing is poorly rendered.

As a student, I sometimes can not tell how good the quality of the jade is, but I can always see the quality of the carving.

In the future, judge the piece FIRST by the quality of the carving, THEN by the quality of the jade. You will make less mistakes.

I hope this is helpful.

Not jade, but some other softer stone. This seems to be imitating smaller metal coins that were cast during the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), though one of the characters differs from those on the Song currency.

#2 picture.. the carving is so rough, that I wonder if Jade was used.
Ernest

Thanx to all who had answered this query! David.

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