Western Han Ban Liang Cash Coin 半兩 - 2nd - 1st century BC OBV: 半兩 Ban Liang REV: Blank REF: None at present. Chinese coins during this period are difficult to attribute to any particular time. Ban Liang coins are also a generic coinage that was issued for a few hundred years. Starting as large and heavy coins, they diminished in weight and diameter. This particular coin could be the later period of the Ban Liang coins. This coin has no rims and has a diameter of 24mm which is consistent with the later period coins. Going by weight doesn't help when attributing these coins as the weight is variable even among coins with the same diameter.
Western Han Wu Zhu Cash Coin, Circa 118 BC. AE 5 Shu, 3.4g, 25mm OBV: Wu Zhu 五銖, Two Chinese characters left and right of square hole in the middle. Thin rim on the outside and inside of square hole. REV: Blank. Thin rim on the outside and inside of square hole. REF: Schjoth 257 Wu Zhu cash coins are the generic coinage used from 118 BC - 617 AD, near the beginning of the Tang dynasty. These coins are also difficult to attribute to a particular time. These coins were much higher in quality than the previous Ban Liang coins and those before, also with a very consistent diameter size. Sometimes these coins are attributed as having rims, having no rims and calligraphy styles. This particular coin matches up to those of earlier mintage in this series during the Western Han Dynasty.
Nice representative cash Gil-Galad. In my mind, the ban liang, Wu Zhu, and Kai Yuan Tong Bao cannot be underestimated. They would be somewhat akin to Athenian owls, Alexander Tets and Roman denari. Three groundbreaking coins that forever changed what people thought of as money in China. As a plus, most collectors could pick up all three for $10-15 dollars, something that would be kind of tough to do with the western three important coins. Btw, I can tell by the style your Ban Liang is a later, smaller coin. For an Liang, though, size is always a very critical measurement. They started off much larger, and shrunk down to modern cash size over about 100 years. I have some around 42-44 mm, a size nearly impossible to find on the market today for a reasonable price, (authentic at least). I actually have issues at nearly every size in between as well, showing it was a gradual shrinkage, not 42mm one day and 24 mm the next.
There is a lot of important research that has been done on all three of those series by Francois Thierry at the Bibliotheque. Many minute varieties have been attributed to a precise time period or issue. Unfortunately, even Hartill's standard catalog is lacking in these areas, nevermind the earlier catalogs of Ding and Schjoth.
Correct, but all of Thierry's publications I believe are in French. I would be the first to line up and buy them if in English. I just dislike references I cannot read the reasoning and background, (the best part of any coin book), unless I wish to trundle through it with a dictionary in hand looking up every word.
well, I checked two more off "the list" I mentioned above. here's a "wu fen ban liang", based on the size, being rimless, crude, and having a large hole (compare to GG's coin above). the "wu fen" means "5 part", it's a smaller denomination that is 1/5 of a regular ban liang coin. western han wu fen ban liang 186-175 bc reverse blank 23 mm 2.0 g hartrill 7.14?
and this one... wang mang hou quan 14-23 AD 23 mm 3.6 g hartill 9.46? wang mang, who had the most awesome name ever, founded the short lived xin dynasty..if 14 years of rule by one dude constitutes a dynasty (9-23 AD)?...sandwiched between the western and eastern han dynasties. if I'm wrong about any of my attribution info, please let me know Chinese coin experts.
It's an important coin. Basically this is the prototype for the next 2000 years what would be "money" in China.
Rovert Tye wrote a wonderful writeup of this leader literally 1900 years before his time. I believe Bob Reis had it posted on his website.
Not trying to bash, but some of the pics I see seem to indicate active corrosion, ie bronze disease. I say this because of the bright bluish stuff that's probably quite invasive. If I ran into such coins, I'd probably get rid of them for more better kept ones.
There have been a lot of the Wang Mang hou quan on the market lately. Frank Robinson was selling them in multiples but I don't recall the details. I gave away some as prizes at school last year. Rules seem to differ regarding cleaning cash and you see a lot of different colors. We each will decide what surfaces we prefer. I see at least a dozen warnings of bronze disease on this list for every coin I actually see that has it. I am not sufficiently into cash to appreciate the differences between some of the varieties. For example, do you see any difference worth noting on the two below? I don't. There are several differences in shapes of certain elements that make a difference to some collectors. Note the leg lengths on the bottom of the left character, the top bar on the T in the middle of the left character and the tail on the top 'u' on the right. I have never figured out how to tell why such little things are cataloged on one issue and ignored on another.
No, it's not. Chinese Cash have a some unique looks to them depending on the issue. Not one coin here to me appears to have bronze diseaes. Actually I have never seen bd on a Chinese Cash coin, only central Asian cash coin. Bd is a result of certain soil conditions found in the middle east, India and central asia, but not China really.
Not just lately Doug. I have bought group lots of them a decade ago, (like 100 coins or more). I actually did a presentation on Wang Mang and his coinage for the Des Moines Coin Club about 10 years ago, and included one of these in the handout.
thanks for replies! i did check for BD, it's all good...green stuff is solid and not powdery. there are all sort of difference in this coin that matter to specialist that I don't even notice unless they are pointed out. the slight differences in characters doug mentioned for example..i wouldn't have noticed if you didn't mention them. I kind of notice the raised edges that are sometimes around the central hole on the front and/or back..and sometimes not. my coin doesn't have a raised rim on the obverse, but it does on the reverse. DS has the central cavity edge on the obverse of his coin. my coin does have a "half dot" centrally located above the hole that I can barely make out even when it is pointed out to me..i guess that matters for attribution as well.
Trivia: What do you do when you want half of a coin? Cut it in half. What do you do if you want half of a cash strung on a string through a central hole? Cut it in half! Seriously, I do not understand the reasoning here but the outer half is called a Fringe or Thread Ring (Yan Huan - H.10.27) while the center is called Chiselled Rim (Zao Bian - H.10.28). These were cut from Wu Zhu which were made over a long span of years and I do not know when these were cut. Gil showed a whole Wu Zhu a few posts above. Obviously my pair did not start out as part of the same coin. If anyone knows more details about these strange things, this is the place to tell.
i'll be darned, i've seen these things snooping around for chinese coins stuff but never figured out what they were. i assumed the zao bian things were heavily worn and the yan huan things were mint errors or something. well...now i've got to have a "set" of these also.
These were made and used in territories held by the Jin dynasty after the Three Kingdoms period, circa 265-420. Usually you see Eastern Han Wuzhu cut like this, but Western Han issues and sometimes Huoquan of Wang Mang are also seen. I guess the latter are a little scarcer? Also be on the lookout for pieces where the Zao Bian were not seperated from the Yan Huan.
Oh, they are cataloged on every issue, if you know the right references. Chinese and Japanese numismatists have been collecting for centuries. They've had a lot of time to designate "rarities" based on minutiae. I don't think I could ever be bothered to go into that much detail on Huoquan. At least with the Wuzhu, those little details can be used to figure out in what reign they were made.
