Coin-Like Charm Item Number: Edz4141 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Round, square hole in centre, inner and outer rims on both sides, four Chinese characters on obverse, design on reverse; character (mintmark) removed from top, two diamonds at left and right sides (possibly books) on reverse.
Possibly palace coin-a special issue for court, a commemorative piece; a coin-like charm, which could have circulated.(Larson, David) A membership token for the militia organized by the secret society, Jinqianhui, the "Golden Coin" Society. This Society was organized in Pingyang, Zhenjiang by Zhao Qi in the early 1850's as a branch of the Tiandihui, the "Heaven and Earth" Society. The latter was a large, underground movement aimed at overthrowing the Manchu rule and reinstating the Ming Dynasty. Zhao Qi and his comrades issued the Yiji Jinqian coin as a token of membership. It required a donation of a few hundred coins. To suppress the Taiping Rebellion, the local Qing government attempted to recruit members of the Golden Coin Society into its militia. The latter used this opportunity to expand its membership. By April, 1858, the Society had recruited over 100,000 people under cover of the local militia. The Golden Coin Society rebelled August 2, 1861 and took over Wenzhu, Fuding, Rui'an, and other key cities in southern Zhejiang and northern Fujian. The Qing government sent large numbers of troops to prevent the Golden Coin militia from joining forces with the southern flank of those participating in the Taiping Rebellion. In 1862, the Qing forces won a decisive battle over both the Taiping army and the Golden Coin militia in Zhejiang. The Golden Coin rebellion was soon suppressed after the loss of its leaders. This specimen is the token of a soldier within the militia. Those held by commanders would bear the name of the trigram of their troops. Several Qing officials involved in the incident have left written accounts and the renowned Qing artist Zhao Zhiqian (1829-84) was an eye-witness of the rebellion. In addition, the oral histories of local peoples have maintained a sympathetic record of the rebellion and the function of the Golden Coin (Gu, 1984).