Asian Coins
The Coinage of Asian Coins
Asian coinage largely developed on its own terms, outside the Greek-derived tradition that shaped currency everywhere from Rome to the Islamic world. Chinese coinage is the clearest example: round coins cast — not struck — with a square hole in the center, a design that let large quantities be strung together on a cord for counting and carrying. That basic form held essentially steady for roughly two thousand years, from the unification of currency under the Qin dynasty onward, identified not by a ruler's portrait but by the reign-era name cast directly into the coin.
Japan adopted and adapted that Chinese model for centuries before developing its own distinctive systems — including the striking oval gold koban of the Edo period — while Indian coinage followed a third path entirely, beginning with some of the earliest coinage anywhere in the world and layering Islamic Mughal and later British colonial influence on top of deep indigenous traditions.
Every coin below is organized by region. Browse a category, or search for a specific dynasty, era, or reference number.
Explore Asian Coins
Chinese Cash Coins
The round-coin, square-hole cast bronze tradition that spans roughly two thousand years, from ancient Chinese dynasties through the Qing. Identified by cast reign-era names rather than a ruler’s portrait, and traditionally strung in groups of a thousand for larger transactions.
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Indian Coins
One of the widest ranges in the entire catalog — ancient punch-marked coinage among the earliest in the world, Mughal-era issues shaped by Islamic tradition, and colonial and independence-era coinage under British rule, all under one regional umbrella.
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Japanese Coins
Japan’s own coinage path — from early coins modeled directly on Chinese cash, through the Tokugawa shogunate’s distinctive Edo-period system of oval gold koban and silver chogin, to Meiji-era coinage that adopted Western-style striking.
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Did You Know?
The square hole at the center of a Chinese cash coin wasn't just for stringing coins together in bulk — some scholars connect the design directly to classical Chinese cosmology, where a round heaven encircles a square earth. Practical or symbolic, it's the first thing any collector notices handling a strand of them.
Coins in Asian Coins
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