Superb RRR Lin Zi Si Zhu cash, ca.175-136 BC (?), temp. Wen Di (180-157 BC) and his successors, Western Han dynasty, China

Lin Zi Si Zhu / Blank. 13mmx13mm, 2.59 grams. Hartill #3.64; Gratzer/Fishman #A14.41.

From a private US collection, ex-Album.

Cast in Linzi-xian in Shandong Province, this type is one of the largest of the 4-zhu coins.
Extremely rare and high quality, known only from a few specimens. Clear legends, original patina. The 4-zhu coins were usually cast from unalloyed copper and are usually found in a poor state of preservation. High quality examples are extremely rare. 

The very strange unorthodox 3- and 4-zhu coins were known in the past from only a few different specimens, but recently many new varieties had been discovered. However, they are among the most poorly understood ancient Chinese coins. Most are denominated at four zhu (with a nominal zhu equal to about 0.7 grams, this would make the coins weigh ~2.8 grams), though a few three-zhu coins are known as well. All these coins are very odd – they are mostly square, with the inscriptions in incuse, looking radically different from the normal ancient Chinese coins. A few of the coins are round, but they are still very odd-looking and unusual. Some coins were cast with a hole, some coins were cast without a hole which was later drilled in. The inscription is also unusual, as the character zhu 銖 is always written without the jin 金 radical, as zhu 朱.
    The inscriptions always show the denomination, sometimes with added characters. The added characters usually list locales which cannot be identified. However, the find-spots of most of the types are known, and these circulation areas (and the named locales) were spread over a huge area in the modern provinces of Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Anhui, Shanxi and Jiangxi (see the map below). A few other inscriptions name official titles (probably of the persons in charge of the casting) and a few legends are still unidentified.