I woke up three hours earlier than normal to bid live in a German auction this morning, and this is what I came away with. I was bummed to win only a third of the lots I was after, but I can only spend so much money. Anyway, here they are: Square-Foot Spade Coin (ca 350-250 BC) Obverse: Xiang Yuan (right left), a city in the state of Zhou Reverse: Da (?) in upper right corner H-3.403 This coin was from an old German collection, and each coin had a label with a Schjöth number on it. I paid about $65, and the going rate is around $100-150. I bought this coin because of the "Yuan" character. This character translates into "city wall," and the city of Xiang Yuan was a city that was fortified by a city wall. Xiang Yuan, which would later become the Zhou capital, was located on the Zheng He river near the southern border of Zhou. As this river formed much of the border between the Han, Wei, and Zhou states, such fortifications are quite understandable as this period in china is called the Warring States Period. Aslo, this same character appears on one of the first round coins in China, and I felt that such a lingustic connection across different states was interesting. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-first-round-ancient-chinese-coins.277764/#post-2403802 Early square-holed round coin (ca 300-220 BC) Obverse: Yi Liu Hua (City of Yi, value Six Hua) (right, top left, bottom left) Reverse: Blank H-6.25 This coin is from the same German collection, and paid another $65 for a $100-150 coin. This type is fairly scarce type that I had been wanting to get for several years. These were cast by the State of Qi in the city of Yi up until they were conquered and annexed by the state of Qin. Interestingly, this coin is denominated in terms of "Hua," which was often used for the knife coins of the same era. As this coin was produced by a knife-coin state, using the term "Hua" is quite understandable. However, in comparing the size and weight of these coins to knife coins, one can see that there is a huge weight discrepancy. This means that the "Hua" seen on this coin refers to a monetary unit seperate to that of the knife. Tian You Tong Bao (ca 1354-1357) H-19.136 (?) This coin was an impulse buy at around $85. It is incredibly rare, and a cursory search brought no auction results. The size (28mm) is consistent with a 2-cash size, but there is no numeral on the reverse that I can see, which is inconsistent with Hartill's guide. I may keep it as it may take years (and $$$) to find another authentic specimen, or I may sell it. We'll see what happens. This coin was cast by Zheng Shicheng, a rebel to the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty. According to Hartill, he took the title of Prince Wu of the Da Zhou ("Great Zhou") and established his capital in Suzhou area. There, he took over monasteries and turned them into palaces, stripping them of their bells and Buddhist statues to be cast into these coins.
WOW! Very nice job! Great pick ups, and great "impulse" capture too! I am not a Chinese Coin or History aficionado, but I love to collect some fun coinage from China's long and cool History. I have been blessed by visiting there several times during my career, and it is fun to tie places that I have visited to some coins... I only have a couple common spades, but it is fun to know the rich and EARLY history of these coins. Also, on the Hua / Key - Round type coins. Is it true that the "Cash" style round coins actually derived from removing / breaking off the Round portion of the Key design coins? China Zhou Dyn 1122-255 BC AE Small Sq Ft Spade An Yang 30x45mm 5-27g H3-182 S-13+ China Wang Mang Pants 7-23 BCE AE Huo Bu Spade H9-30 I have none of the Yuan Dynasty (looking), nor of the Tian You. Nice job!
Very nice! I love the great historical connections. Seeing these things always gets me interested in Chinese coins again...
No. the key coins were cast 7-9 AD, whereas the earliest round coins were cast ca 300 BC. There were two types of round coinage, those with round holes and those with square holes. The round-holed coins were produced by states that produced mainly spade coins, while the square-holed coins were produced by states that made knife coins. As for the origins, I have read that the round-holed coins were inspired by jade rings that represented eternal life. These were valuable objects culturally, so their inspiration is analagous to that of the spade and knife coins. The square-holed coins have a dual-facet origin story. The legend goes that the coins were supposed to represent nature with the coins being "as square at the Earth (the hole) and as round as the sky (outer rim)." Also, the square hole was valuable from ease of production. As the coins were cast, they would have casting spries on the edge. With a square hole, the coins can be quickly stacked onto a sqaure peg and the edges filed down without rotating about the peg. Round-holed coins were ineffective in this regard, so the square hole was the type adopted by the state of Qin when they unified China's coinage in 221 BC. You can see the effect of the square peg when the coins were not aligned properly when they were shoved on:
Very cool! I have just one non-round Chinese coin, also a spade from the Warring States period (c. 350-250 BC) that I won at a Stephen Album auction about a year ago:
Hello, I have a very old Chinese meat cleaver with a Chinese coin nailed to the base (which was a common practice at one time). The coin has been buffed so the numismatic value is not a concern but I would really like more information as to its age and history. Is this the proper forum to ask this question and post a photo? Also, how do I post a photo? Thanks much.
@Alegandron Every time I see your Huo Bu spade, my gut says fake. Could you post clearer pictures of it?
The world coin forum is the best place. To add a photo, just hit the "Upload a File" button underneath the post box.
Thank you for your kind help. I will not be able to re-photo for a while. Once I can get back to it, I will send you the pics for your review. I picked this up from a small dealer at a show in Charlotte for $20. He had several that later, a couple Chinese dealers bought everything he had and several other dealers inventories at the show.
The fabric just seemed very similar to my fake, with the uneven rim thickness and the coarse surfaces.
I just got the coins today. The first two are authentic (or so I can tell to the best of my ability), but I am concluding that the Tian You is fake. The hole is very modern and done with modern machinery, so I presume that it was done to disfigure the fake, thus making it less attractive to potential buyers. There are other signs too. They are: 1. Coarse haziness to the characters. I will try to get good pictures of what I mean. Genuine coins do not have this texture. 2. Random sharp raised bumps and cracks. I could not find a similar pattern on any genuine coins in auction records. 3. No reverse character. Hartill does not recognize a 2-cash variety without a character on the reverse. 4. The inner and outer rims on the reverse are nearly level with the rest of the surface of the coin. This is inconsistent with what I have noticed with genuine coins. I will be contacting the auction company ASAP.
The auction company says they are willing to take a return. I am going to get a few opinions first as I want to send this coin back only if I know for certain it is fake.
