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How to Identify Asian Coin Values

It is difficult for Western coin collectors to identify the value of Asian coins primarily because of the language barrier. Many Asian languages use characters instead of letters to form words. This makes it impossible for those unfamiliar with the language to pronounce the wording on the coin. Fortunately, coins offer many other signs that indicate where they are from and how much money they are worth.

Instructions

- 1
  Search for any wording based on a Latin alphabet. Asian coins sometimes have Latin lettering that were designed to suit foreigners who trade with the currency. This may tell you where the coin is from or other information relevant to the coin's value.
- 2
  Look for the minting date. Asian coins usually have dates printed in Western numbers. Knowledge of the coin's minting date will help you find out whether or not the coin is still in circulation. An older coin will be much less common and more valuable.
- 3
  Identify the country of issue for the coin. If the country is not written in English, perhaps you can tell where the coin is from by comparing it to the illustrations on the World Coin Gallery website. This site gives an example coin from each country, which should help if the coin is from a modern country, but may not help if the coin is very old.
- 4
  Note the condition of the coin. Some coin collectors place a high value on coins in excellent condition, whereas others prefer coins that have enjoyed a lot of circulation. Asian coins have different grading systems from Western coins and there are also different grading systems within the Western world. You will need to see a professional grader to get an accurate grading on the coin. This person will give you proof of the coin's grade as well.
  
  Coin conditions can be put into three basic categories: circulated coins, uncirculated coins ("mint state"), and proof coins. The latter two categories never circulated among people, but were collected from the time they were minted.
- 5
  Identify any flaws on the coin. Collectors may pay more money for flawed coins because they are unique.
- 6
  Convert Asian currency to the currency of your home country. The value of a modern Asian coin may be based simply on the worth of the coin's denomination. You can convert currencies in seconds by using Google's currency conversion tool. For example, if you want to convert a coin worth 10,000 Japanese yen into American dollars, you would search "yen to usd" on the Google search engine. Then input the 10,000 yen into the box named "Japanese Yen" and watch the answer populate automatically.

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