Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;otlichnik, post: 5338572, member: 109731&quot;]The coin is indeed a Huo Quan of Wang Mang.</p><p><br /></p><p>To answer your questions we have to go start at the beginning.</p><p><br /></p><p>Chinese coins are based on smaller versions of bronze tools that had been used as trade items in the pre-coinage era.&nbsp; In China the these items included spades (shovel blades), knives and spinning whorls (aka weights for spinning yarn or for looms).&nbsp; The last of these were round bronze items with a small round hole in the middle to fasten to the end of a string of yarn or thread.&nbsp; Eventually miniature versions were used for trade and these became coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the Eastern Zhou era (circa 770-220 BC) these three items, as well as cowrie shells and bronze imitations of cowrie shells, were used by different states as currency.&nbsp; These usually had some writing on them - specifying the city or state they were from.</p><p><br /></p><p>By the late fourth century BC the most common were small round coins with Ban Liang written on them.&nbsp; Instead of the name of a place, this meant 1/2 ounce and signified the weight.&nbsp; When China was unified under the Qin Dynasty in the third century these coins spread throughout the land.&nbsp; They also shrunk so they weighed less than 1/2 ounce but the name stayed.</p><p><br /></p><p>Despite unifying China, the Qin was a short lived dynasty and was replaced by the Western Han.&nbsp; In the early second century BC they changed the writing on the coin to Wu Zhu - this was five grains, another weight measure which reflected the actual weight of the coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ban Liangs started with round holes but ended with square holes.&nbsp; All Wu Zhus and coins onwards have square holes.&nbsp; Either shape of hole will allow the coins to be put on a string which was the traditional Chinese way of storing and carrying coins.&nbsp; But square holes served another purpose.&nbsp; After being cast they had brought edges due to the flashing left over from the casting process.&nbsp; So many coins were placed on a square rod and then the edges were filed by a mint worker.&nbsp; Ban Liang had bevelled edges from one-sided casting molds but the Wu Zhus were much nicer with flat-sided edges which required smoothing.</p><p><br /></p><p>to be continued[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in