As the title suggests, I recently acquired this early Ban Liang from Bob Reis. It is 35mm in diameter and weighs over 7g, meaning it was likely cast by the Qin state during the Warring States Period well before they unified China in 221 BC. The significance of this coin is that it has a flower hole, meaning the hole has 8 points instead of 4. The Chinese adopted a mentality early on that 4 was unlucky because it sounded like the word for death, and 8 was lucky because it sounded like the word for fortune. Though the early coins with the flowerhole may have been errors by the mint when the coins were put on a square rod for filing (the hole was not lined up properly, so the rod bent the hole out of shape), they appeared to become more regular and with higher precision and accuracy during the North Song period. There is no question that the coins with the flowerholes were more highly valued by the contemporary Chinese than those without. This could mean that the flowerholes eventually became intentional. This is manymore's web page on the matter: http://primaltrek.com/flowerhole.html The particular significance of this coin is that it is the oldest Chinese coin with a flowerhole that I know of to exist. The only other large-size Ban Liang that I know of that has a flowerhole is a specimen ca 180 BC owned by Gary, the owner of the above website, which he thought was the oldest one known.
I have a couple of large Ban Liang's with rosette holes. I believe the largest is about 18 grams. I never heard they had any significance. I always though it was when they pushed the coins onto the square rods every once in a while one when on crooked and didn't line up properly with the cast holes. As you can see from your example, the eight points are not lined up like you would expect them to be if done on purpose.
This is exactly what happened. They were not intentionally made at first. However, the coins with the "flower holes" were more highly-prized for their 8-pointed holes. Could you post pictures of some of your ban liangs. 18g is HUGE!
My wife and I got married on 8-8-8, and I had friends in from China who signed our marriage certificate.
