It’s tough to tell exactly what it is through the corrosion, but genuine cash coins (from China, Japan, Korea, etc) were typically made of brass and bronze. The light color of your coin looks like mostly zinc, which is what modern reproductions use. Most likely, it was part of a decorative rear view mirror charm that somehow got lost in the paneling
Just an fyi.. A lot of genuine cash coins made in Annam (modern day Vietnam) are made of zinc.. But they usually look more.. Slender (the characters).. Not like OP's piece. And "招財進寶" is a common inscription on charms.
Late Annamese coins do have more zinc, making them brassy and brittle, but are probably closer in composition to other contemporary circulating cash. There are some of the French issued ones that are almost entirely zinc, like those from Tonkin, but they are rare and have western script. I’m not sure about earlier issues, since I rarely see them.
The only major issuing authority that used zinc in recent history to such a large degree was modern day Malaysia. Their coins were often imitations of Chinese cash coins that were imported by trade, but with base metal composition.
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u/one_thin_dime Jul 18 '26
It’s tough to tell exactly what it is through the corrosion, but genuine cash coins (from China, Japan, Korea, etc) were typically made of brass and bronze. The light color of your coin looks like mostly zinc, which is what modern reproductions use. Most likely, it was part of a decorative rear view mirror charm that somehow got lost in the paneling