Official paper currency of the Qing Dynasty. 大清寶鈔。 Value 2,000 wen(cash). Paper currency was a Chinese invention that started during the Song Dynasty by private bankers. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, they were issued as an inflationary measure due to economic instability. The earliest paper currency to survive today was traced back to the Mongol Yuan Dynasty although only a handful were known to exist today. Most were issued during the Hongwu period on the founding of the Ming Dynasty and ended upon stability of the empire only to witness a resurgence during the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty during the early to mid 1800s. The specimen below was issued during the 8th year of the reign of Emperor Xianfeng (AD 1839). It is issued by the central imperial authority stamped on mulberry paper with official seals and ink marks officiating the document as legal tender and possibly redeemed.
No. The ones they found at the base were the Ming Dynasty issues. Much earlier. The Qing issues however followed the same style as they were stamped on paper.
