China - Charms. CHINA: AE charm (20.12g), CCH-1774, 44mm, twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, zi chou yin mao chen si wu wei shen you xu hai around // eight trigrams qián kan gèn zhèn xùn lí kun duì around, VF. The Chinese zodiac is a classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. The 12-year cycle is an approximation to the 11.85-year orbital period of Jupiter. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remain popular in many East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Likely cast in the late Qing dynasty.
