341, Lot: 523. Estimate $100. Sold for $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CHINA, temp. Qīng dynasty. Secret societies. Golden Coin Society. 1858-1862. Æ Membership Token (37mm, 19.17 g). Cast in southeast Zhèjiāng and northeast Fújiàn provinces. Yi Ji Jin Qian (Mark of loyalty – a golden coin) in Hànzì characters / Linked lozenges flanking central hole. Hartill –; Wang, Coins and Membership 10. VF, brown. Rare.

From the TJH Collection.

The Golden Coin Society, a branch of the Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) that was active during the Taiping Rebellion, was a fraternal organization dedicated to removing the Manchus from China. Their name was initially derived from their membership badge, a pair of Kang Xi Tong Bao coins fixed back to back by a red silk thread, so as to obscure the Manchu inscriptions on the reverse. As the society grew, more personalized badges were needed. Several varieties of these ‘coins’ exist, all with a curiously written jin character. The first two strokes of the word are written in a way that resembles the element ru (enter).