Journey into the unknown: Xin Dynasty 50 Zhu (Circa 7-23 CE)

I've owned a few cash, but never really collected them nor cared much for them. However, lately I've been getting the urge to pursue ancient Chinese coinage, and I've been browsing Ken Dorney's store for the right piece to take the plunge. It shouldn't be too hard. After all, I already collect ancient Indian and Islamic coins (which most ancient collectors care less about), and I rather renjoy them even if I don't understand them well at all.

Well, I've finally taken the plunge. I wanted an unusual coin, and one with good and thick patina. This one has both. The reduced flan really stands out, and the patina is superb and rather vibrant.

It is a 50 Zhu coin from Emperor Wang Mang's highly unpopular monetary reforms, which bankrupted China and left people crying on the streets for want of money they could trust. I believe @TypeCoin971793 mentioned that in another thread. This might be up his alley.


China, Xin Dynasty, Emperor Wang Mang, 7 - 23 CE
AE 50 Zhu, 20mm, .87 grams
Obverse: Da Quan Wu Shih.

Reverse: Blank, as made.
Hartill9.2
From his complex and unpopular monetary reform, which included denominations of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 50, 500 and 1,000 Zhu. These coins were largely similar in weight and appearance, and were difficult to use. It also explains why so many people hoarded earlier currency to use rather than the current official token coinage.

If you have anything you think relevant, feel free to post.

 

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Nice little coin Sallent. I haven't made it that far east yet so nothing for me to share.

 

What does Da Quan Wu Shih mean?

 

Good question: Something @Ken Dorney , or @TypeCoin971793 ,or @dougsmit might be able to answer. They are more into cash coins than 99% of us.

 

Pretty sure it's Wang Mangs Wu-Tang stage name.

 

Large coin 50

 

Or "Great Coin Value 50"

Top Character: "Da" or "Big/Large/Great"
Bottom Character: "Quan" or "Coin/Money"
Right Character: "Wu" or "5"
Left Character: "Shi" or "10"

"Wu Shi" implies 50 because 5 times 10 is fifty, and this is the stated value. If the smaller number is in front, you multiply the two. If the smaller number is behind, you add the two. There is a scarce variant of this coin where the Wu and Shi characters are reversed, so it reads "Da Quan Shi Wu", where Shi Wu, or 10 and 5, respectively, translates to 15.

The word "value" is not on this coin; it is just implied.

 

It's actually worth 50 Wu Zhu, or 250 Zhu, which was about 25 times its original intrinsic value. That's how blatantly inflated Wang Mang's coinage was. Yours is valued at 125 times its intrinsic value (considering a Zhu weighed about 0.5g).

Also, yours is a later specimen, dating after 20 AD or so. You have a very light specimen, a little lighter than anything I have. Another characteristic of Wang Mang's coins was that they were gradually debased as his reign went on. The original weights of the Da Quan Wu Shi's was 7-8g (though I have some up to 12g). Yours weighs nearly a tenth of what was originally.

When I get back to my collection, I will post a picture of the degradation of Wang Mang's coins.

 

Interesting stuff. You've told me so much more about my coin than I ever expected. So I have the baby coin from later in his reign, debased to almost nothing. That darn Wang Mang . Oh well, it's still a pretty coin and I'm very happy to have made the plunge into Chinese coinage.

 

If you don't mind, I'm going to add a little info here.

The denominations (in number of Wu Zhu, so multiply by 5 to get true value) produced were (round coins) 1, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 (this coin), (these are the spades) 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 (two types: Spade and Knife), 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 5000 (knife). The 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 were the intrinsic weights in zhu for the round coins.

Wang Mang forced the circulation of earlier coins and proto-money (cowries, shells, etc.) to cease by making their use a capital punishment (AKA: death penalty).

Not really. They were just massively inflated. No one trusted them, and no one wanted them, especially after Wang Mang destroyed the wealth of the nobility by arbitrarily demonitizing some of the most valuable coins. People would have rather starved to death than use the new fiat coins.

His goal was to have large- and small-denomination coins circulate side-by-side to make transactions easier (like our paper money today), but he was over 1000 years ahead of his time.

 

Well, whatever he did worked in a way better than he ever intended, because 2,000 years later we are still complaining about his monetary reforms. He definitely gained a sort of immortality by his reckless actions. I wonder what he would make of it if he had found out that 2,000 years later on the other side of the world there would be people talking about his coins (and mentioning his name).

 

Very interesting @TypeCoin971793 thanks for sharing. Capital punishment... damn. Looking at our currency nowadays I guess it worked.

 

Nice score @Sallent !

I have a few Wang Mangs:

 

There is a new book that covers the coinage of Wang Mang. I haven't had time to get into it a great deal, but at first glance, it looks promising. I was glad to see a book that brought together a lot of the cash reference books into 1 book.

The Numismatic Legacy of Wang Mang AD 9-23.

 

Is it the essay by Robert Tye? If not, I am interested in reading it as I do not know about it.

 

There are two new cash reference books. If it looks as one may think, the authors are going to do a section by section (period by period, dynasty by dynasty, whatever by whatever) analysis of the cash series. Can I link to Amazon here or is that a no-no?

 

Link away. Knowledge is power.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-L...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495859154&sr=1-1


https://www.amazon.com/One-Thousand-Years-Zhu-Coinage/dp/1539677141/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495858869&sr=1-2&refinements=p_27:A, M. Fishman

 

WANG MANG!

 

i have both Wang Mang and Wang Chung