White Copper Taotie Beast Head Mountain Ghost Coin Pendant

A charm coin is not money. These were cast by folk workshops to be handled, never to circulate, and the face carries auspicious phrases, talismanic writing and zodiac signs instead of a reign title. The categories are a jumble: zodiac pieces, auspicious phrases, horse-racing boards, treasury pieces, each with its own set. The Mountain Ghost charm is one branch of it, with the talismanic script for the two characters on one face and usually a bagua or a thunder command on the other. They were cast in both north and south during the Qing, in every size. A cast piece runs a little thicker than a struck one and rings duller; set the two side by side and you can weigh the difference in the hand.

The mountain ghost comes out of the Nine Songs in the Songs of Chu, a deity of the mountains. Qu Yuan writes of her as someone in the bend of the mountain, draped in fig vine and girdled with mistletoe, and those two plants are how she is recognized. The Nine Songs runs to eleven pieces, and Mountain Ghost is the title of one of them, describing a scene of sacrifice. The mountain ghost on a charm coin is not quite the one Qu Yuan wrote. Folk practice treats it as a guardian of the mountains, and the ring of characters on the face is talisman writing, not poetry.

On this piece a taotie beast head has been added along the edge. A charm coin is normally flat, and a ring of beast heads gives it thickness in profile so fingers do not slip. The beast heads are worked only on the side, with the talisman still on the face, so the hierarchy is not disturbed. The talisman strokes are fine and the beast heads coarse, and that pairing of fine and coarse gives the eye somewhere to land. The nose and brow of the beast are kept flat and only the horns are pointed, because pointed places chip.

Two ways to buy it: the single piece, or with a chain. The single suits a cord of your own choosing, or hanging in a car. The chain version is ready to wear. The hole is usually at the top center, and the cord should be on the fine side, since a thick cord jammed into the mouth widens it over time. For a car, keep the cord short; a long one swings against the mirror and catches your eye while you drive. The mouth of the hole is rounded so the cord does not break, a detail often skipped on small pieces. Decide before you buy whether you are wearing it or hanging it, because the two uses take completely different cords.

The thing a copper charm coin fears most is a wash. Someone decides it looks too black, soaks it in vinegar, and it comes out bright, but the layer of old color is gone with the dirt and the cuts have gone shallow. To clear dust, dry-brush it and keep every kind of chemical away. Patina is raised by sweat and air together and cannot be hurried. Some people boil these pieces in tea, but the color that comes out is false and sits on the surface where anyone can see it.