I surprise even myself: Chinese Tang coin

Don't expect this to be a regular thing guys (I don't really collect eastern coins aside from early Islamic), but I decided to get way out of my collecting comfort zone by buying a (cheap) coin from the medieval Far East, of Tang Dynasty China (7th-10th century AD). I've recently been reading a little on Chinese and Korean history just for fun, and Anoob's recent thread about his Korean coin helped inspire me to search out a cheap but decent Far Eastern coin. I realize this thread will only interest three or four people on here, but I wanted to share my new coin nonetheless. I'm tempted to clean it but can't decide on how exactly to do it.


Tang Dynasty, Imperial China
AE 1 Cash coin
Obv: 開 元 通 寶 , Kai Yuan Tong Bao ("The Currency of the K'ai-yuan Period" or "The Inaugural Currency") , top-beneath-right-left of central hole
Rev: Square central hole
Mint: (don't know; struck 718-732, the "middle period")
Ref: Hartill 14.3
Size: 24 mm wide, 3.30 gr





Some history on this coin:

The Kai Yuan Tong Bao type and the coinage system it is part of was started in 621 AD by Emperor Gaozu. This new system had each coin weighing a tenth of a Chinese pound and a tenth of a Chinese foot in diameter. During this period the central government was in charge of minting and acquiring copper. For the first time the coinage alloy was standarized: 83% copper, 15% lead, and 2% tin (but in practice the coins were often made with lower proportions of copper). The percentages used before seem to have been on an ad hoc basis.

There are some examples of the Kai Yuan Tong Bao type with a crescent-shaped mark on the field of the reverse. According to the most famous account, Empress Wende, when shown the wax model of the coin, accidentally stuck a fingernail into the reverse. This mark was kept on the model and coins were made from it. But it is more likely that the crescent-shaped marks are just control marks.

Initial mints were located in Chengdu, Guilin, Peking, Bingzhou, and Luoyang, and some coins were also made by princes and imperial officials who were granted minting rights. By 739 the number of recorded mints reached ten. By the 660s AD, the quality of the Kai Yuan Tong Bao coins had deteriorated due to the abundance of forgeries, but by 718 the production of fakes had been surpressed.

Tang dynasty China in 700 AD:



Emperor Gaozu:



(map and Gaozu picture from Wikipedia)

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

How much Tang do you think it could buy?

Very nice info and write up. Thanks for posting.

 

Yes! I was hoping someone would make the reference! Glad you liked my post!

 

The Kai Yuan Tong Bao is a very important coin. It was actually the main coin in production when the Tang were at the height of there power, possibly the height of Chinese power ever. This coin was the coin that was used and shown to the Central Asian people when the Chinese first went into Central Asia. As such, to these people, this particular coin was THE Chinese coin they emulated.

At first, they made local copies of this coin. Then they started making their own version with a Bukhara tamgha on the reverse. Then all of Sogdia that the Chinese controlled made their own versions of cash coins with their own script and tamghas for the next couple of hundred years, until conquered by Arab tribes.

As such, it might be one of the most important Chinese cash coins historically. It doesn't change the fact they are extremely common, but makes them more interesting. Btw, there are quite a few control marks that can be collected on the reverse, and slight style changes. Of course, the most expensive version is the one with the Bukhara tamgha on the reverse. Expect to pay at least $100 for one of those. For common examples, I am sure the postage to mail it to you costs more than the coin, so its a very affordable piece of history to own.

 

Btw, another interesting thing to learn about is shown on the map above. See how China had that narrow little strip of land then went further west? Why do you think they wanted this tiny little strip of land, which militarily is very hard to defend? This was the Silk Road. The Tang knew how important this trade route was for them economically, and they also knew how valuable it was to control it. This is the prize the Tang, at the height of their power, wanted. They expanded west and took control of the Silk Road all of the way Persia. It effectively was cutting out the middlemen and increasing the value of their products, an early form of vertical integration if you will.

 

Thank you for this very informative post Medoraman. The fact that this was a very important and influential coin makes me like my new coin even more.

 

cool chinese coin vk! i have one of these with the "empress" mark on the reverse.

 

Nice coin chrsmat! Like the colors.

 

Ha. Sounds like denial.

The result of a trick I learned from JA.



...hate to work for this guy...


Great write up. I have cash to share but no Tang to barter. I can also attempt to illustrate what Medoraman was talking about.

Russian Turkestan
Semirech'e, Sogd
Turgesh Kaganate
AE Fen 25 mm x 5.26 gram
Cast AD 750-800
Obverse: Sogdian legend "Fen of King of Turgesh Kagan" around square hole
Reverse: Tamgha of Turgesh in the shape of a runic letter "P" in the left field.
Ref: Kamyshev's #24 in "Early Medieval Monetary Complex of Semirechie"
Note: Extremely Rare. Thick beautiful green patina.

 

We cant forget about the Sons of Persia the children of the Shah Yazdegard III who fled to China 80 or so years earlier seeking refuage from the Arabs.


From wikipedia...
"Bahram VII (Middle Persian: , Wahrām, Persian: بهرام یکم‎, Bahrām) was the son of Yazdegerd III, the last Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire. After the death of his father at Merv in 651, Bahram fled to China along with many other Sasanian nobles, where he and his brother Peroz III asked the Chinese Emperor Gaozong to support them in their fight against the Arabs. Bahram repeatedly tried to recapture the occupied Iranian territories from the Arabs, which he did not succeed in.

Bahram died in 710, his son, Prince Khosrau (Chinese: Juluo), continued his father's military efforts. However, Khosrau's campaigns and his first successful invasion into Persia were eventually unsuccessful."



Here is my coin of Yazdegard III.

Sassanian Persia
(Sijistan)Sistan, Iran
Yazdegard III (r. 632-651 AD)
AR Drachm dated ry. 3 (635 AD) mint SK.
31 mm x 3.86 g
Obverse: Bust of Juvenile Yazdegard III Pahlavi Legend- Yazdegard, Splendor, Prosperity
Reverse: Zoroastrian Fire Altar flanked by two aattendants
Ref: Gobl 234
Note: Chipped, rusty dies, very scarce. Last ruling member of the House of Sasan.

 

Yeah, some people list a coin like this as "extremely rare", yet it is probably the most common sogdian cash coin there is. Kind of shows you how common all of them are, huh? I actually like it like that, it means I will never have to give up the pursuit of new pieces. How many of these types do you own AN? I probably have about 100 or so now, including about 20 of this type, (large and small variants).

Sorry if off topic to the OP.

 

Cool coins Anoob. I like the first coin especially for its obscurity, like, how many people know that there are coins from Russian Turkestan, or even heard of the place?

Can't help but feel kinda bad for the last Sassanids, seeing their empire just collapse big time. And its interesting to know how medieval China played into their fortunes.

 

No worries, as long as its not completely off-topic. This is actually more activity than I was expecting on my thread.

 

Very true. This probably is the most common Sogdian coin there is. It is extremely rare as far as cash and coins is concerned representing 1 in a 1000 cash coins available to the public at least in my circles.

I own one. I got it for $25 for my One of Each collection.

I try and collect and not hoard.

 

RUN JANGO, RUN!!!

=> don't let JA give you that stinkin' Naboteneeseortean mind-meld!!

 

Well, there are about 49 variations.

Also, I would not think this is the most common Sogdian coin. I would say the 4th century copper Chach pieces are the most common.

 

For anyone wanting to delve deeper into Kai Yuan Tong Bao coins a good English language reference is:

Chronology of Kai Yuan Tung Bao by Roger Wai San Doo



BTW here's one of my coins. Similar to Ancientnoob's Semirech'e, Sogd Turgesh Kaganate above.

 

... maybe I should read that Asian book?

 

A nice coin for sure. Thanks for sharing.

Yup! And finish it too!

 

I only got a Like from him so I am safe... for now...