Firefly Coin Source & Research Thread

[Boba Debt]

In my obsession to locate all 16 of the Firefly coins Phil posted a few months back I found and ebay seller named Zheng that has a website with many of the coins I needed.

He sells them for 2.5GBP per coin and that includes shipping, which is a good deal

This is the URL to his web site: http://jewelry.chineseseller.com/coin.htm

This is a composite image I made from the 2 images Phil Posted:

These are the coins I positively identified from Zheng's site. The white numbers correspond to my composite image, the typed text are his Item Numbers

If you go the his website and discovery that he has other coins please post the information below.

If you think I incorrectly identified any of the below coins please post your detailed reasons below and I will be glad to debate you.




QSO24

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QS031

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QS003

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QS005

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QS037

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QS045

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QS023

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QS013

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QS049

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QS015

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PS: Here is a picture of that shows my current coin collection, I will be adding 6 new piles to this collection very soon

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To keep things straight I printed a full size copy of my composite image on legal paper

As I get coins, I stack them on the corresponding image

 

[dr_slurpee]

Those are some great photos of the coins, and a great link for people to possibly get them.

You didn't mention number 2, 8, and 9 which have also been identified. Personally the province coins have been driving me crazy. I see that you have the Szechuen Province coin that I had mentioned a while back. I know that Yun-Nan Province is also one of the coins used in the series as you can see it in the Firefly Visual Companion, but I am not sure if it's in the photos that Phil posted. Number 15 would be my best guess as being Yun-Nan, the others have been too hard to narrow down.

Numbers 4 and 14 are particularly frustrating as they would certainly be easily matched if something was found, but I still have found nothing. I have see coins with the correct face side for #4, but none of them had the "wreath" on the back. It could well be an error coin as I have seen a few error coins that have the wrong thing on the back (I even have one with the "fat man" on both sides). Number 14, I have not even seen one similar to it yet.

 

[Darth Vindus]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dr_slurpee @ Dec 19 2006, 08:52 AM) [snapback]1380880[/snapback]</div>

Those are some great photos of the coins, and a great link for people to possibly get them.

You didn't mention number 2, 8, and 9 which have also been identified. Personally the province coins have been driving me crazy. I see that you have the Szechuen Province coin that I had mentioned a while back. I know that Yun-Nan Province is also one of the coins used in the series as you can see it in the Firefly Visual Companion, but I am not sure if it's in the photos that Phil posted. Number 15 would be my best guess as being Yun-Nan, the others have been too hard to narrow down.

Numbers 4 and 14 are particularly frustrating as they would certainly be easily matched if something was found, but I still have found nothing. I have see coins with the correct face side for #4, but none of them had the "wreath" on the back. It could well be an error coin as I have seen a few error coins that have the wrong thing on the back (I even have one with the "fat man" on both sides). Number 14, I have not even seen one similar to it yet.
[/b]

#4 is a Sun Yat-Sen coin no idea on any of the specifics
and the "fat man" is Yuan ShiKai
Many of the variations you find are actually forgeries.
I wonder if some of the coins that were featured in the show were fakes.

 

[dr_slurpee]

Knowing who is on the coins is good, but unfortunately it doesn't help much in the search for #4 as both #2 and #6 (and possibly #5) are Sun Yat-Sen coins which seem to be the ones every search I have tried brings up.

The site that Boba Debt mentioned almost has the correct face, but the back side is incorrect.

 

[Boba Debt]

I missed Coin #2 on the website.

It's QS031

I added it to the first post.

 

[kevinericon]

#4 is actually the same year as #3, just the head on the front is different. (Sorta like different quarters coins for each state), it's from 3rd year of ROC.

If you can provide me some pics with higher resolution I can maybe point you at a right direction. I can even do the search in Chinese, I believe searching google with the exact words on the coin should have more luck.

All the province coins are from Ching Dynasty, here's a ebay link for Yun-Nan Province coin.
eBay auction
However I don't think the writing on the front side is the same as #15.

Although I'm a Firefly fan I'm not going to get a set of coins used on the show. I'll just use what is currently using on the market, they'll look close enough and VERY cheap. :lol But I'd be happy to provide any help you may need. (Including buying stuff from eBay china while I'm here.)

Edit: BTW, #13 is QS049.

 

[Boba Debt]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(kevinericon @ Dec 23 2006, 06:00 AM) [snapback]1383348[/snapback]</div>

Edit: BTW, #13 is QS049.[/b]

Good catch, I have added it to my the first post.

 

[kevinericon]

http://cgi.ebay.com.cn/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...;category=95966

This is #15, QL041 is made by the same province but different face value.

 

[Boba Debt]

#15 is pretty easy to find on ebay, I already have 3 of those


I'll be impressed if you find #14

 

[kevinericon]

#14 is rare, since the guy was only an emperor for 83 days. It's so rare the ones I found were over $500, and it's just for reference only. :confused
http://www.chengxuan.com/odt_show2.php?ppcd=art43702895
Move your cursor above the thumbnail to see magnified coin.

http://tw.f5.page.bid.yahoo.com/tw/auction/e17005325
Even the bronze coin worth $300. And all the auctions I found were for these.

 

[dr_slurpee]

$300 and $500??? Friggin hell, I guess I won't be getting a complete set. I can't believe they had an expensive coin in amongst all those other "junk" coins.

Nice find though.

 

[Boba Debt]

I'm sure those are real coins and the prop coin must have been a replica.

 

[dr_slurpee]

You mean the series

They must have found some counterfeit coins of that particular one at least. Or maybe some coin seller just had one mixed in with all the other coins and they got lucky?

 

[kevinericon]

It's in quite a bad shape and such a valuable coins must have lots of fake ones, maybe they just got a whole bunch for a lower price. Maybe the seller just got rid of the fake coin or he just didn't know or care. I don't think they'd search for that particular coin for production.

 

[Boba Debt]

Can anyone translate the emperor's name?

 

[kevinericon]

His name is Yuan Shikai, he was a president of China who dreams to be an emperor. To save everyone from a history lesson, I'll just stop here with a wiki link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Shikai

The coin should be CHINESE HONGXIAN ERA SILVER COIN (1915-1916). But you will find some other coins such as #7 as well. #3 is the same guy when he was provisional president.

Good luck on the coins hunt.

 

[Boba Debt]

I received a few coins today

Two # 6 coins and two # 9s

I only need one # 6 to finish my set (I want 3 of each) and the # 9s are dated 1908 instead of 1907 but not bad considering that I paid less then $10 for 4 coins

 

[Darth Vindus]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Boba Debt @ Dec 28 2006, 07:54 PM) [snapback]1386136[/snapback]</div>

I received a few coins today

Two # 6 coins and two # 9s

I only need one # 6 to finish my set (I want 3 of each) and the # 9s are dated 1908 instead of 1907 but not bad considering that I paid less then $10 for 4 coins

[/b]

The 2 French Indo-China Piastre Coins look kinda fake. But the one from the show might've been too.
Still its a good find because even fakes go for about $5+ each and those coins are hard to find.

 

[Boba Debt]

I'm sure that 99% of the coins simular to the FF coins that are listed on ebay are fakes

 

[robstyle]

fakes also show up for sale and are common in Chinatown.
Thats where the original coins came from. At times you can go to any shop or kiosk in Chinatown and pick up coins in various sets or individualy at random. There were more coins than whats been seen above. Afterall, they were just randomly picked up in Chinatown.