[muawiyah]

My Great Grandfather used to have some of those in a box the grandkids and great grandkids got to play in. Some of them were made of stone (and those aren't the kind you dismiss as "cheap").

It has been noted by others that Chinese coins were sometimes used as buttons, or rather the cores of buttons. The copper or silver core would be wrapped tightly in thread or cloth. Then sewn to clothing.

[Tainan]

My Father had a couple of ‘bracelets’ made using coins such as those. He bought them back when he was a China Sailor. Gave them to me Mother when they were married. I remember playing with them when I was a kid. No idea what ever happened to them.