"Brother Six Character Holed Cash
Old and young, poor and rich fight for it.
If in the government offices there is no justice,
And in the monasteries there is no unselfishness,
By holding it finally one can move the hearts.
Stinky brass makes the kowtow - cratures very busy,
Be it in business or begging.
By the Skinny Taoist
Painted to remember Ch'en Lao-lien
By Sung-Shan Ping"
The frontispiece from Burger's 'Chinese Cash until 1735'.
I used to actively collect the cast cash coins of China and was smitten by Burger's book, not only for the wealth of detail it contained about being able to attribute the undated cast cash coins to a year, but also for its fine tissue fold out plates, wood block engravings and hand corrections/annotations.
