Collecting coins- starting collecting Chinese coins

Collecting coins can lead to interesting stories. I started collecting as a young child, but I didn't really get interested in Chinese coins until I was attending University. A Chinese friend gave me an old Chinese coin. I had no idea what it was, so I went into the Main Stacks of the library, and down to the bottom floor. I found a book by A. B. Coole, a prominent collector of Chinese coins and paper money (his library is now the foundation of the ANA's wonderful East Asian Numismatic Library) , called "Coins in China's History."

After about an hour of searching, I found the coin was from the time of the emperor Kang Hsi (1662-1722), and the Beijing mint of the Board of Revenue. It was a very common coin, in nice condition, but with a story to tell. A month or two later, I was looking through a 25 cent junk box, and found an old Chinese coin. It had a colour, a patina, which just spoke of ages of use. I purchased it, and after most of 2 hours of research in "Coins in China's History," I found it to be from the Sung dynasty, with the reign title Hsi Ning, dating from 1068-1077. It certainly was old, although not very valuable- under $4.00. It was a different style of writing, and a different metal than the newer ones, but most definitely a beautiful Chinese coin.