Chinese Cash Coin, but which of the many is it? I'm unsure... [gelöst]

Hi All! I have run this Chinese Cash coin through both Numista and Google's image search. Numista's search brought up very many of these coins, however, due to the complexity of the characters, and the fact that they are a little degraded, I cannot make a definitive identification. 

 The coin is 24.5 mm in diameter, 1 mm thick, and closely approximate to 4.5 g in weight. My guess is that it is made of brass.

 Its provenance is good. It was given to my brother by the parents of one of his Chinese students, as a gift. I think it unlikely that such people would knowingly shift a respected teacher a forgery. These folks told him that it was over 1000 years old. This would fit with the age of many of the coins that came up in the search.

 I would just like to know which of the many Cash coins it is. A valuation is not important. I'd also like to know why these are called “Cash” coins, but this, too, is not important, as I can research this for myself at a later time.

 Thanks, in advance, Arthur Yapp

Hello,

I believe this is your coin here:

N#20616

Inscription: Jing De Yuan Bao

Since the image search of Numista isn't always useful for identifying coins, I use a Wikipedia article to narrow down my search:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_cash_coins_by_inscription

Since the reading order of the characters can vary from coin to coin, I just start with the top character.
 

As for the name of the currency, this may be of use:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_(Chinese_coin)#Terminology

Hope this helps.

 Hi DoubleEggbert56! Thank you most kindly for your help. I will investigate all this information with interest.

 Cheers, Arthur Yapp

Frenchlover

I'm not quite sure that result is right. While the general era of cash coin is correct (Song cash coins), the character on the right is different.

That confirms Numista find “Jing” but not “de” 🤣

 As well as asking the good folks of Numista, I sent photos of this coin to a dealer friend, who in turn sent the photos to an Asian friend of his who “knows his stuff”. His reply is: “This is a genuine coin from the North Song Dynasty, Jing De Yuan Bao (1004 to 1007)”.

 I trust the guy I sent the photos to, so I guess I'd better trust his friend, too. I'll compare this with answers on this thread. It seems to agree with DoubleEggbert56.

 Thanks for everyone's input. AY