mbriac » 4-August-2008 6:50pm

aviable on ebay, and near some great library on the web (scott seeman, ANTIQBOOK, ...)

Chinasmith » 5-August-2008 10:00am

There are two different printings of this book -- one in Hong Kong and one in Taiwan. I have seen the book with a tan cover (as in the scan), a white cover, and a reddish-brown cover. It is a great book for general information on the coinage, for historical information, and for a comprehensive listing of all the varieties. However, no one today accepts Burger's theory of secret year dates for these coins. Some coins from the first two reigns (Shun Chih and K'ang Hsi) can be dated to a brief time span, as little as 1 to 3 years, based on surviving records about the opening and closing of various mints and the changes of the coin design. But no one has shown any evidence for the existence of a system of dating based on minor changes in the writing of the characters.

MikeA » 5-August-2008 11:05am

Dr Burger is currently a research fellow at the University of Tübingen in Germany working on a project entitled "Qing Coinage, 1736-1850: Mint Statistics and Numismatic Evidence". Concurrently he is also working on the second part of his book on Ch'ing cash (from 1736 -1911), which will be published as one combined volume on Ch'ing Cash (1644-1911).

frank » 18-February-2014 9:08pm

Winner of the Lhotka Memorial Prize 1976.

frank » 12-September-2017 8:46pm

for a review of the published two volumes, Hong Kong, 2016,
please have a look at JONS no. 229/Fall 2016,
pp. 9-13, by Fresco Sam-Sin.

Bgriff » 13-September-2017 12:25am

As things stand now, the second part isn't going to become a common reference due to its high price. I was shown privately a review of the new book before it was published, by someone who it might be said is a rival catalog author. It was an unfair and across the board slam.

According to Scott Semans, the original volume has not been changed or revised. I was able to look at a couple areas of the new charts, for Yunnan. It would be very helpful to have all the new charts, as record of the scarcer provincial coins. But like the first book, there are some problems.

Dr. Burger contacted me in 1989 regarding funding for the second part. He stated his intention had at first been to present the whole period 1644-1911 for his dissertation, but lacked enough coins in a few areas. Those were Xinjiang, Qian-long of Yunnan, and the large Xian-feng issues. Between 1976-89 that had been resolved.

To properly review Burger's book requires extensive knowledge of the coins, at a by-date level, and also no ulterior motive to either praise or criticize. He has used his pre-eminent position as a researcher to present some things and expect nobody in the world is in position to know any different. Two usual criticisms are that his dating system is imaginary, and his parallel large and small cash presentation in Kang-xi is impossible. Both of those things are quite real (one might point to 4 parallel sizes cast at central mints, documented and observed, in Chong-zhen). If anything, there was more going on about multiple weights, and privy markings than he realized in 1976.

charm » 1-February-2018 2:45pm

Recommended reading about Werner Burger in this issue of JEAN (pp. 8-9).

frank » 20-September-2019 7:00pm

My edition was published by Mei Ya Publications, Inc.,
Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China,
First Printing, February 1976.
(Hardbound, white cover).