Well, I've seen plenty of effects that use a "chinese dollar" or something as a finale production/transposition, and many magic shops sell them... and they don't sell 'em cheap.
So I thought I'd take advantage of my housemate being in China for a while and asked her to bring back as many of these coins (I described them to her) as she could.
Unfortunately, she has written back and seems to have found that these coins were used years ago (we're talking 100s/1000s of years). As I can only presume that all these magic shops are not selling parts of ancient chinese history for $24 a throw, what gives?!
Does anyone know if these coins have any real link to china at all? Or are they just decorative disks that anyone could buy on some cheapo chinese necklace in a market stall, and if so, why are magic shops succcessfully selling them to people for that much? And also, does anyone know of any *real* chinese coins in current usage that look similar/cool so that I could alter my request?
Cheers guys and girls.