The first is a Qing Dynasty cash coin attached to a label that reads:
'Hsien Feng
7th Manchu Emperor
1851-1862
(Husband of the Great Dowager who died 3 yrs ago (1909))'
This is a reference to Empress Dowager Cixi, who ruled Imperial China for much of it's final half century of existence. She actually died in 1908, but the mention of a date allows us to date the writing of this label to sometime in 1912. The attached coin is of Emperor Xianfeng and was minted at the Board of Revenue, in Beijing, between 1853 and 1857 (Hartill#22.679)
I also have another label that I bought from the same seller and was presumably authored by the same person at the same time as the last. It's attached to two coins of Emperor Guangxu and were also minted by the Board of Revenue, one in the East Branch and the other in the West Branch. They were both minted between 1887 and 1898 (Hartill#22.1275 and 22.1277).
The label reads:
'Kuang Hsu
9th Manchu Emperor
1875-1909'
It's amazing to think that these two coins have been tied together for over 100 years and that the labels were written in the same year that the Qing Dynasty came to an end. It's also entirely possible that these coins were taken directly from circulation. The Guangxu coins still clearly show the original file marks, which suggests that they saw little use.
Feel free to share some of the interesting labels/tickets from your collections.
