We've been finding some fascinating artifacts while digging in some very deep clay to install a new drainage system around our house. Yesterday's finds include this etched metal medallion. Can anyone help us figure out what it is?
For background, the house is 80 years old and was built on the site of a Union army bivouac. It's got some cool US history.
@DrTCombs The front face is a pretty standard taijitu (Tai Chi symbol): the yin yang shape surrounded by the eight trigrams (bagua). Nothing in particular to do with Korea. This version of the taijitu appeared in the 1600s and later.
The back side has "seal script" writing on it: versions of Chinese characters appropriate for carving into something. I find seal script very hard to read and it's not clear enough for me to take a whack at.
Nice find!
@colo_lee
Wow, thank you!!
We were thinking Korean because a former resident of the house was a Korean war vet. But we're just spitballing.
@DrTCombs The symbols are widespread across Asia so it certainly could be Korean. But I'd guess Chinese based on the seal script in the backside.
How big is it? Just wondering.
What a cool thing to find!
@colo_lee
It's 3.25" across, and a few millimeters thick
@DrTCombs Cool. It's actually fairly large. You're lucky!
@DrTCombs That’s a Chinese Bagua symbol.
@DrTCombs My wife says the front is the well-known bagua of Taoism. The back names the centre of Taoism, Wudang Mountain. The characters on the left are the name of a section there. The centre row of characters aren’t legible to her.
@DrTCombs It’s an ornament to hang in your house to keep out ghosts and anything bad. It’s good for the feng shui
@geodarcy
Thank you!! This is awesome information.
@DrTCombs I suspect someone with more contextual knowledge might have some idea of the pin mechanism on the back. Those have changed a lot even in our lifetimes. Someone in the UNC system should have some concept of buttons over the last 100 years.
Very cool, even if I have to acknowledge archaeologists.
@DrTCombs
Neat find. Bagua yin yang pin of some sort or a coin?