大觀通宝 Da Guan Tong Bao, because of their exquisite design, are usually filtered out of "unpicked" hoards of Northern Song cash, leaving behind no more than 5 or 6 pieces in a lot of 500 or even 1000 pieces.
This has been my experience.Although there are many varieties of Da Guan cash, they are very hard to distinguish, unless you have a larger quantity. In my reference collection currently I may have only a dozen pieces of this type (not varieties), compared to hundreds of pieces of other reign titles. So, I was astonished to find the Da Guan Tong Bao available in lots of 50.
I bought just one lot and it arrived today from a seller in Shanghai with whom I have done business before. I was very happy to find that, not only were the coins all genuine (which I expected) but as I unpacked them and spread them out on the table, I was able to quickly identify at least six or seven varieties, and there were even about 4 or 5 with reverse marks (one mark seems intentional, like the marks on the reverses of Kai Yuan), and a few slipped reverses, which I have never encountered before.
I was tempted to purchase another lot, or even all of them, to examine for my reference collection, but instead I decided it would be better to just let my readers know about them, so they can be shared out among many. I am looking forward to studying my lot of 50 and I will publish the result in this blog in a few days. Meanwhile, if you want to take advantage of a rare opportunity, click HERE for the link to the eBay listing. There are four lots left as of this morning.
Below is a scan of the 51 pieces that I received today, showing just the obverses. I have not retouched the scan in any way, but the coins look better in hand than in the scan. I am sure that if you are using my catalogs, you will be able to identify at least 6 or 8 varieties in a lot of 50. (In this type, that is a good amount.)
Good luck! Click the image to zoom full size.
