Firefly Has Coins with Holes in Them?

[Mike J.]

This is a cap from the beginning of "Ariel", just after Jayne gets cut.

We can see on the table:

Three dice

Many larger white cube-y things (Mah Jong tiles, can be found on ebay, looks like white plastic)

Cards (the metal Bhuddist amulet cards)

Gray circle (perhaps a 'plum' card upside down?)

And stacks of coins with holes in them.

What does this mean? Beats me...

I don't think anyone else has mentioned this, though, so I figured I'd share.


-Mike

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Cool find. When I was first researching the earlier ones, I bought a group of coins that had one of the large silver dollar size with a hole in it--gave it away to a friend :lol

 

[gnrlotto]

Some look to be the typical brass Chinese coins (or, obviously, fakes).

Also, I still think the plum cards are backed with craft foam.

 

[kevinericon]

I saw a post discussing the coins in the series, they're mostly from 1850 to 1920, which resembles coins we use nowadays. Can't find that post right now.

However more ancient Chinese coins do have a hole in them. Below is a link I found on google, you can find coins up to 2000 years ago, just click on different era on the left, you'll see the Chinese coins pretty much stayed the same for the last 2000 years. Down side is it's in Chinese. Try search "Chinese ancient coin" in google images section for English sites.

China Numismatic Museum

Without any clear screenshot I can't be sure what coin they used. You can decide for yourself. Hope that helps.

 

[SaberFreak]

Here're some of the coins featured in the website mentioned above:

There're many others but the shapes are the same, only the words are different, depending on which dynasty they're used in.

Here's a repro I have which is commonly used for 'feng shui' purposes nowadays. The ones I have are small size(between half an inch and 3/4 inch across), but they do come in bigger sizes:

Front

Back

If someone can provide a clear screen grab I may be able to find the same type of coins from vendors at my local Sunday flea market.

 

[SurferGeek]

When I saw that scene I noticed the coins with the holes but I really didn't link them with actual 'verse money as I thought they were essentially "poker chips" and not currency.

 

[dr_slurpee]

I'd tend to agree that they are game related "chips" since the table is littered with other game items.

A cool find though, they look to be quite large.