White Copper Mountain Ghost Coin Totem Pendant

A charm coin is not money. These were cast by folk custom for protection, for warding off evil and for good wishes, shaped after a copper coin with writing on one face and a design on the other, and they never circulated. The mountain spirit coin is one of the common types, cast in considerable numbers and in many versions, with wording, pattern and thickness varying from one maker to the next and no standard reference piece. Pieces of this kind are not meant to be paired. A single coin can be worn, and losing one does no harm to the set.

The front follows the layout of a charm coin: characters set in a ring around the square hole, four to a phrase. The line usually found on a mountain spirit coin runs, “Mountain spirit and thunder, slay ghosts and subdue spirits, cut down demons and ward off evil, forever keep the spirit clear.” Sixteen characters, exactly one circuit, read in one direction without skipping. The back carries the eight trigrams or a thunder pattern, held inside the border so it does not compete with the writing on the front.

On a round plaque the rim is the hard part. Make it thick and it looks like a bottle cap; make it thin and it buckles. The rim here stands up, with a fine ridge worked along the outside so the finger finds a clear edge. The characters are cut intaglio and the beds are cleaned out with no casting blisters left. The corners of the square hole are given a small radius, so a cord passing through will not be sawed through on a right angle, a step many pieces skip. The rim is polished, so it does not cut the hand and does not snag thread.

The version with a leather cord comes with a dark brown one, its thickness matched to the hole so it does not sit loose. Leather has the advantage of ignoring sweat and softening with wear as it darkens toward black. Its disadvantage is that the length cannot be adjusted, so measure where you want the pendant to hang before buying. Most people who order the pendant alone already have a cord, or plan to tie a knot and hang it that way, which is a more casual arrangement and easier to change. Leather furrs at the ends in time; cut off a length and retie it.

A coin-shaped piece is flat on both faces, and flat surfaces show scratches first. Do not carry it in the same pocket as keys or loose change; a single day is enough to leave a field of fine lines. Scratches on white copper show bright and on brass show dark, and neither can be removed, only covered as the whole piece ages. If that matters to you, keep it in a small cloth bag. Cloth breathes better than a velvet box, which can trap damp and bring out green corrosion. Left unused for a long time, the copper gathers a film of dust that blows away.