Ancient Chinese Boshan Knife - Just bought my rarest coin!

Very nice collection, the Chinese had some unique money for sure. They also produced first currency from silk. The only thing that I cannot understand, why they did not have gold coinage.

 

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I believe the Chinese did make gold coins and ingots, though they are very uncommon. I have no idea why they preferred copper, tin, and bronze so much.

 

I have several Chinese gold coinage... Just modern. I Understand the Ancient Chinese did not have gold because the did not find or control gold mines. However, later they traded a lot for gold. They used bronze for coinage to the masses, and they were expert bronze metalurgists, casting incredible vessels that cannot be reverse-engineered today. I understand gold was traded among the wealthy poured as pigs and bars, and a few coins.

 

What about silver? I'll admit I don't really spend hours and hours looking at ancient Chinese coins but I don't recall ever seeing an ancient Chinese silver coin.

 

I believe the same. Generally silver and gold veins run together. You do not see silver coinage in quantity until the modern era. The Chinese figured out true fiat monies VERY early for the general population! Smarter than the West who had to worry about inflation devaluation of precious metal currencies...

 

I'm glad the West was dumber and minted silver coins. Otherwise I wouldn't have so many beautiful silver coins to collect. That would be rather unfortunate.

 

Silver was mostly used in ingots and things called sycees, as was gold, but anything ancient is incredibly rare. We know that there was an ancient monetary system for gold and silver, which was divided up into catties. A cattie of precious metal was about four ounces today. I think the exchange rate from bronze to gold was 10000 wu zhu worth of copper for one cattie of gold. Silver was somewhere between 1000 and 2000 wu zhus per cattie. If one remembers Wang Mang and his "key" coinage, every citizen in China had to turn in their gold for those key coins, which were demonetized two years later, destroying the wealth of China.

Also, there are bronze imitation cowries that have gold plate on them, so gold was used to some degree in ancient times.

http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/china/china2.htm#interregnum

 

Just as an update to this thread, I found two more for sale. They are the same size and variety as mine, and they are both broken and repaired. Also, they are priced at three times what I paid for mine!

http://www.numismall.com/acc/284-27...-extremely-rare-Boshan-small-knife-money.html

http://www.numismall.com/acc/284-27...n-small-knife-money-Warring-Period-China.html

 

All fixed!

 

My husband (he's sleeping in this morning) knows a little about coins but not as much as you or your collecting intrests! I proof read for him and much of what he has written or showed me since we got married has made me appreciate the coins we both collect.

I appreciate the history you have presented and admire what you have collected. Because of your post, I'll have a question for him while he has his coffee. I am interested in your thoughts also.

Remember, I don't know anything about these knives but they look reasonably priced and are historical. With the way China is growing, they may have a good chance to go up in price as a bonus. I do not question you or your dealer but after seeing the repair job they did in your post, I am scared about fakes.
As I said, my husband may know something; but if you can help out a little, I'll know what to ask him: @Insider

My first thought, if they can get the green color to match the rest of the knife, how do you know it is old and authentic? The knives look crude already and being that old from China, they must be casts. Is it a trust the dealer thing? Do you have a link that you use to ID them. Actually, I'm going to look around for myself right now as you have introduced me to what may be a new interest.

So, if you can, please let me know your thoughts on the excellent repair and what has to be a modern color patina. Since this is repaired and no longer original (I can not tell without your post) this must be considered an altered piece.
Does the seller live in China (I hope) as my husband says they are producing lots of counterfeits. Again, I am not questioning if your knife is genuine, I'm just amazed at the repair and wonder how I would know an original knife if I decide to purchase one. Maybe, I can study the knives on Ebay as I might guess that's where the fakes are best found...LOL.

Thanks!

 

Morning!

After reading the comments of my wife, I'll only echo her questions. These pieces are completely foreign to me and I'll claim no expertise.

The last time I handled a few pieces of Knife Money was in a museum in the 1970's. I'm afraid I have discouraged her from collecting them. Today, I should only purchase one from a major Chinese auction with a guarantee of authenticity and originality.

Waiting to read what you think.

 

My impressions about the restoration:

It could be the pictures, but it looks like the color has changed. The patina looks different than I remembered, but it is the same coin. I'll provide an in-hand analysis when I get it in-hand in a week or so. The crack was easy to hide as the two halves fit together perfectly (look at my side-by-side picture with the Ming knife). It may be harder to sell with the new patina, but I have before-and-after pics of it. The fact that it was fragile enough to break in transit proves its authenticity as the metal has crystalized due to age.

I have found that dusty patinas are the ones to stay away from. I almost got burned on a $300+ purchase until a dealer warned me away. "Crust" is hard to replicate, so I will be sticking to crusty coins from now on. This coin has some crust on the handle.

The seller does live in China. He is recomended all over the interwebs as a seller or genuine coins. He digs up or buys fresly dug hoard of coins, so he sells in bulk and knows what genuine patina looks like.

Chinese coins are a trust-the-dealer thing. I can spot most fakes because they are stylistically wrong and/or the patina is horriblly done. The most reliable dealers have contacts who can give insights to authenticity as they have seen millions of coins excavated and processed through their museums. Auction houses are not reliable; I have seen fakes in Teutoburger, Stack's, and a few other companies. The best fakes can even fool the experts.

If you are interested in buying a few Chinese coins, I can find genuine ones for you.

 

Early Chinese money is not easy to obtain and not easy to collect, you deserve an applause, for sure.

 

The Chinese actually had gold coins during this period. They were known as Chu Kingdom Ying Yuan gold bricks which consists of a larger brick piece with multiple Ying Yuan stamps which were individually broken into smaller pieces.

 

These are how they would look like

 

not easy to collect? no more or less than any other region