White Copper Crane Five Emperor Coins Open Ring

The Five Emperor coins are the coppers of Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong and Jiaqing, strung together and hung on a door or in a car. The first five reigns of the Qing fell in the country’s steadiest stretch, and folk custom took those five reign titles as a token of “without a break”. Real coins are hard to assemble, and once assembled nobody wants to hang them, so copies in copper found a trade. Of the five, Yongzheng’s coin is the scarcest, hard to gather in genuine form, and copies often substitute another reign title.

The coins on the ring are reduced ornaments, not real money. The round-outside, square-inside form is kept, though no cord goes through the square hole; it is pattern only. The four corners of the square hole need to stay sharp to have any life — rounded off, it looks like a hole set in a ring. The four characters on the face, shrunk to this size, must have their strokes merged, and holding the outline is as much as anyone can ask.

The auspicious clouds and the crane are another layer. The cloud pattern runs down both sides of the ring face, the crane stands in the middle with its wings folded and its neck bent into a curve. The crane has been on Chinese objects for millennia — Han lacquer carries it, and the Han relief stones of Shandong still show that long neck and long leg. Crane with cloud means “crane in the clouds”, which speaks of integrity rather than of riches. The crane’s legs are thin and break in casting more often than anything else, so on small pieces they are usually merged into the cloud.

The advantage of an open ring is that no size needs quoting: slide it on and bend the two ends together. The disadvantage is the same — bend it often and it loosens, white copper having some give, and repeated bending leaves a pale line at the opening. Once adjusted, leave it alone; writing and carrying things are both fine, just do not use it as a bottle opener. On a hand that swells, the fit is tight in the morning and loose at night, which is normal. The two ends of the opening should be rounded; a square end catches knitwear and catches your own hand.

Silver and gold are the two plating colours. Silver is close to white copper’s own colour, so wear does not show; gold looks expensive, but once it goes the base metal shows, and at the edges that is the most conspicuous thing on the hand. Someone working with their hands should take silver; someone at a desk can take gold. It is given mostly to older women, where the talk is longevity rather than money — the subject leans that way to begin with. The gold version on the index finger is noticeable, the silver on the ring finger steadier; that is the experience of the counter.