the chinese coin quilt has been around for a long time!
according to Barbara Brackman's book Encyclopedia of pieced blocks
the earliest example is 1850
there are a few variations of the block ...thus the different names!
ie roman square when every fourth block is dark,
chinese coins the blocks are actually different sizes;
bars when the blocks are all the same size and the veritcal rows in between are the same size...
etc
hope this helps!
think today we classify all of these quilts as chinese coins.