Since I have joined and introduced myself a while back, I have not yet posted an awful lot of Chinese coins. I must say school has kept me rather busy, and so has reading the new posts on this forum. This weekend however, we had our annual ONS (Oriental Numismatic Society)-meeting, and I made a purchase I am sure you would all quite enjoy. I am sure the majority of you are all familiar with the ancient Chinese Cash-style coins; a round coin, with a square hole. This type arrived somewhere in the mid to late Warring states period, in the state of 秦 Qin . This however, was not the first type of round coinage of the ancient Chinese states. For the earliest type of round coin was most likely issued by cities in the state of Wei (魏, after the capital move of 361 BC also called 梁 Liang). These earliest round coins, supposedly evolving either from the jade 璧 Bi-disks or bronze vessel rings (both theories are at least somewhat farfetched in my opinion), are rather large in size (around 40 mm, enormous when compared to the later Chinese Cash coins), and have one specific feature that set them apart from the other round coins issued in the period: they have round holes! Precisely one year and twenty-one days ago, I purchased my first example of one of these early round coins. I believe I have already shown this coin on this forum, as well as on a couple of others. Anyway, I thought I would start off this topic with showing it again: A rather nice, in my opinion, round coin, although if you are really picky, the first thing you might notice is the patina on the obverseand corrosion. This was probably part of a hoard, found in some sort of waterlogged area, hence the bubbly surface along the edge. While prying this hoard apart, a section of the patina of the adjacent stuck to this coin instead, resulting in a rather colourful ‘transfer-patina’. Some collectors, including myself, don’t really mind this, it increases the odds that the coin is genuine, but I can see how some might be bothered by it. The character is a little vague due to the adhesion of dirt on the obverse, but nothing too disturbing. The ID-tag glued to the back, referring to the Schjöth-catalogue, was glued on by the previous collector. The auction house couldn’t give me a name due to privacy concerns, but told me that it came from an old German collection formed in the seventies/eighties. I was, and definitely still am, rather content with this coin; it is after all a beautiful coin, with a genuine and relatively colourful patina, and with a little provenance! So I never even thought about upgrading it. Forward to last Saturday, the ONS meeting. Besides interesting lectures and an auction, there are always also a couple of members offering a few of their coins for sale. Normally the amount of Chinese coins for sale is not overwhelmingly large, and most of the times we are only talking about late Song/Qing cash anyway. Then I saw this coin, nestled comfortably between two later Islamic coins, and I immediately fell in love with it. Such a beautiful, crisp patina with amazing blue highlights (If I haven’t told so before; I am an absolute sucker for coins with blue patinas), a clear, clean edge with a nicely visible casting sprue! A bit expensive for the type, but I simply had to own it. So I bought it, even though I already had a perfectly good specimen! Did I overpay, especially when compared to my other specimen? Yes, definitely. Do I mind? Nope, not one bit! So, here is my newly purchased coin: Quality-wise I’d say it is an upgrade; the readability of the character sure has gone up. Speaking of the inscription; it is time for the write-up! I might have already mentioned it, but the character visible on the obverse is an archaic form of 垣 Yuan. This reading is, contrary to the readings of several of the other round coins, rather certain, for the documentation concerning the etymology of this character is relatively extensive. It appears in a number of excavated texts from around the same period, as well as a couple of earlier bronze inscriptions. Besides, the same character is also used on one or two different contemporary coins. And I just so happen to have two in my collection. The interesting bit is that these two spades are attributable to the kingdom of 趙 Zhao, while the round coins posted above are from the Wei/Liang state. Yet the calligraphy is almost identical. This is due to the fact that these two states have a common heritage, background, and to some extent culture, but more on that later. The two spades: Note the faint numeral (11 in this case) in the right shoulder of the reverse. Both are of a late type (350 – 222 BC), attributable to the city of 襄垣Xiangyuan, located in the modern-day county by the same name. I can tell an awful lot more about this type of coinage, it is the main focuspoint of my collection after all, but I am afraid I have to do that in some other topic once. As previously mentioned, they were issued by the State of 趙 Zhao, right where it bordered with the state of 韓 Han. The period in which they were issued wasn’t called ‘The warring states’ for nothing, and armed conflict between these two states was all but rare. These border-towns were therefore frequently walled or otherwise fortified, as can be seen by the names of some of these cities. The 垣 Yuan in 襄垣 Xiangyuan translates to ‘a low/city-wall’ for example. The same goes for the town that was responsible for issuing these early yuan-round coins; which was simply called 垣 Yuan. Even though it wasn’t really a border-town (it was located quite safely in the Wei-heartlands), it still had impressive defences. This is specifically mentioned in the historical sources. Both the bamboo annals and the 史記 Shiji, (the latter possibly drawing from the first, older work) mention that in the first quarter of the 4th century BC, the state of Wei fortified three of their cities: Anyi, Luoyang and you’ve guessed it: (Wang) Yuan. As far as I know, the site itself has not yet been excavated, but the approximate location is known to us, in what we would nowadays call Yuanqu-county (垣曲县) in south Shanxi (山西). Located safely along one of the side-branches of the yellow river (which formed the border between the Wei and Han states), in the foothills of the 太行Taihang mountains, it quickly became in important Wei city in the beginning of the Warring states. It initially belonged to the Red di barbarians (赤狄), but the predecessors of the Wei state, 晋 Jin, conquered massive tracks of land, including the Yuan-area from these barbarians, in the late Spring and Autumn period. After the tripartition of Jin, the area was divided in three, and the control of Yuan fell to the state of Wei. At this time, the city was also called 王垣 Wang Yuan, (Wang meaning ‘king’s’) probably to differentiate between multiple cities also called Yuan. Interesting to see is the fact that these round coins inscribed Yuan, often have an alloy very high in copper. The British Museum for example tested two specimens, both respectively being 97 and 98 percent pure copper! Other specimens are slightly less pure, but generally speaking they are more than 90 percent copper, a significant increase over most of the other Pre-Han coinage, and even over the majority of round-type coinages. Here we can draw an interesting parallel, between numismatics and actual history, geography and archaeology. I already mentioned that the city of Yuan was located in the foothills of the 太行Taihang mountains, an area, as it turns out, rather rich in copper-ore. The mining in this area is quite famous, dating back to at least the late 商 Shang-dynasty, and has carried on until the present day. We even have a fully preserved copper mine, the so-called 北峪 Beiyu copper mine, dating between the Han and Tang dynasties, located about a dozen kilometres from the Yuan site. Could the copper used for these coins be from a similar, local copper mine? I say it, especially when looking at the relatively high amount of copper these coins contain, certainly isn’t that farfetched. The exact date the issuing of these round coins commenced is uncertain. David Hartill dates them between 350 BC and the end of the Zhou period, in around 220 BC, when the state of Qin conquered all opposing states, unifying China in the process. Naturally, this unification wasn’t an overnight process; Qin expansion already been going on for at least a century. Initially, at the beginning of the Eastern Zhou period, the central states (Jin, Qi, Zhou, etc.) thought of Qin as being a barbarian, outsider state, with little to no common heritage. Their influence in the early period was limited, and during the early warring states period (475 – 221 BC) it came under heavy pressure from its newly created neighbours; the three Sanjin (三晉) states of Zhao , Han and Wei. These three states were the result of an internal split in Qin’s previous neighbour, the state of Jin (hence the Sanjin, litt. ‘the three Jins’), in 453 BC. Wei in particular, assumed early dominance, that lasted till about 350 BC. Large tracks of Qin territory were forcefully taken by a coalition of these three neighbouring states around 400 BC, and Qin was forced to retreat and regroup to its heartlands. While they were doing so, Wei reached its all-time high. As I have already mentioned, important Wei-cities, such as Luoyang, Yuan and its capital, Anyi, were fortified with huge rammed-walls, new cities sprung up left, right and centre, and we have evidence for a complex economic system. Spade and round types of coinage were issued in large number in a large variety of cities. Around 360 BC however, Qin made its re-entry, after legalist philosopher Shang Yang (商鞅) had implemented major reforms and renewals. Wei, obviously impressed by the sudden Qin-rise and fearing a swift invasion, moved their capital from the western city of Anyi to the eastern city of Daliang; this city was located further from the border with Qin than Anyi had been. This fear was certainly not unfounded. In the year 292 BC, Qin, led by general Bai Qi (白起), launched a massive and successful assault against the Wei and Han states, capturing several large cities, and even sacking the important city of, you guessed it, Yuan 垣, where these round coins were issued! Even though it was sacked, the control of Yuan was quickly returned to Wei again. This would not last long however, and the same Qin general conquered the city again a mere two years later. They also conquered the previous capital of Wei, Anyi, and several other major Wei cities. Yuan would remain under Qin control for the remainder of the Warring States period, as part of the newly created Yuan-county. If we assume that these round coins were indeed solely cast by the Wei state, which the archaeological evidence certainly does support, we can now attach a certain end-date to this coinage: 290 BC! That is all the information I have concerning this type. If you have anything else to add, please do so! And just to finish off this topic, a picture of the two together. Both measure 42 MM, while the coin on the right, my initial round-coin, weights around 10.57 gram, as opposed to the 9.59 gram of the coin on the left. Both weights are well within the excepted weight-bracket for this type. So, which one do you prefer? I am still keeping both though, I can’t stand departing with a coin I have had in my collection for a while now; I have grown quite accustomed to it. And I am a big fan of these early round coins . I know several members here also have this Yuan coin (@Parthicus, @TypeCoin971793 and perhaps @Loong Siew?), so I’d love to see those here! Post anything else you like by the way; round coins, other Zhou coinage, or other ancient coins with a lovely (blue) patina! Let’s see those beauties! Mika
I still haven't been able to snag one of these, and I agree, blue is beautiful! But I like your labeled one very much too. (You have to love heavy patina if you're going to love Chinese coins.) And thank you for the detailed writeup and historical context... much appreciated. I've found that this information is hard to find online. Also seems to be hard to find in English even in print form, although I haven't looked too hard. (If you have suggestions I'm all ears... right now I have only Schöth and Hartill.) Here is what I believe to be the earliest square-hole coin, State of Qi, and it is the one hua denomination (H6.23) so pretty close to the standard size from centuries later. The date range I have is 300-221 BC, and the inscription ai (or yi?) hua 賹化. Qi was the last of the warring states to be taken over by Qin. (I would also like to get one of the pre-unification heavy banliang's of Qin... do you have one?)
Wow @AnYangMan , VERY nice write up and VERY nice coins! As requested... My ZHOU's: CHINA - ZHOU Dynasty, 1122-255 BC square foot spade 350-250 BC AN YANG - 3 lines rev bronze 31x52mm 7.45g H3.184 S13+ China Zhou Dyn 1122-255 BC AE Chuan Bead Money 40mm China Zhou -Chou- 1000-200 BCE Dynasty Bronze cowrie Tong Bei China Zhou Dyn 1122-255 BC AE Small Sq Ft Spade An Yang 30x45mm 5.27g H3.182 S-13+ China Zhou Dynasty 1122-255 BCE Yi Bi Tang Go Liu Zhu ANT COIN PB (lead) 19x12mm 3.7g FD-6 Coole 98+ China Shang 1766-1154 BCE or Zhou Dynasty Ghost Face Ant Nose 1.65g Hartill 1.4
Cool, @AnYangMan - both the coins and your post! While I don't collect such coins myself, I read about the meeting (in Leiden, right?) in another forum. Christian
This reminds me. When my mother was a wee girl in the middle 1960s in China, she lived in Jinan in Shandong Province. Shandong is known for having a great amount of high quality tombs and such, and every time a hole is dug something seems to pop out. At one point they were constructing a building of some kind and hit upon a hoard of cash coins. Apparently nobody really cared much so it was kind of a first come first serve sort of situation. My mother's older brother managed to get a whole sackful of the things. But what would one even do with a bunch of junk like that? Why, give them away to the neighborhood children, of course! Mother says there were some coins bigger than her outstretched hand! Who knows what kind of treasures those "trash" coins actually were...
Awesome write up and excellent specimen @AnYangMan .. !! These were regarded the first round holed coins in China's history. And your specimen is beautiful with clear legends and a highly desirable blue patina.. here's my specimen as requested.
Once again, FANTASTIC writeup. I enjoyed every sentence of it. You will make a fine archaeologist. Quick question: Was the city ever home to the king/ruling family at any point in its history? That could be the reason for the added term to the name, possibly to just to recall a time where the area was inhabited by a king. Here are my examples of the coin types discussed:
Do you have any information on this coin, I had bought it in a lot. It's Probably just a fake but a nice Replica.
You are probably right in assuming it is a fake, though it is one of the better ones I've seen. It looks too perfect for comfort. I can't tell the true color and texture of the patina from the pictures, but it looks fairly close to what I'd expect. If you are feeling ballsy, you can alwys do the drop test. If it rings like metal, it is probably fake. If it clunks like lead, then it is probably genuine. You only need an inch oh height to do this.
Wow, a lot of interesting and helpful info from the original post as well as the feed back. I do not have a round cash in my collection. Thanks Mika.
I have to agree with @TypeCoin971793 on this one I am afraid: Its looks are decent-ish, but it is a fake nonetheless. It imitates an incredibly rare Zhu Zhong Yi Liang Shi Er (珠重一两十二) from the state of Qin, dating from the same period as the coin in the beginning of the topic. The patina on your coin is better than on the usual fakes and the way the dirt encrustations are placed around the edge make it look like a genuine hoard find. The patina on the reverse is slightly less convincing, but would still fool anyone at first glance. Also note how the hole is not perfectly round. Perfectly round, machine made, holes used to be a tell-tale sign of fakes, but apparently the fakers have become so much more sophisticated nowadays. The calligraphy is a little off however, especially on Liang and zhu; the strokes are usually much ‘rounder’ than the squarish/blockish ones we see here. These Zhu Zhong round coins are generally weaker cast than other contemporary round coins, but are in quite high relief in comparison. I am not a professional authenticator, so take my opinion with a slight grain of salt, but I am rather confident it is not genuine. Sorry! For some reason I already thought I already replied to your lovely replies! Oops ….. apparently I didn’t. So sorry guys! Ah well, better late than never. First of all: wow, a featured article! Thanks guys, some beautiful coins right here! Some lovely coins @Alegandron, I especially love those Anyang spades (but then again, there is a reason I am named AnYangMan here on the forum). Love the calligraphic variety on that Yuan coin of yours, @Parthicus! Very narrow strokes, with relatively small ‘squares’ (pardon my non-linguistic terminology) on the end. Interesting to see the location of the position of the casting sprue; precisely opposite to where it is located on my specimens! The (continental-)ONS meeting is indeed held in Leiden every year. The ONS is quite a large international, and this year we had no less than 36 members participating in the meeting! (for an oriental numismatic society meeting in the Netherlands, I’d say 36 isn’t too shabby). Members from all around the globe are present, and we cover the entirety of the diverse field of Oriental numismatics; from Russian Zmeevik amulets, central Asian and Indian coins, all the way to Chinese cash, and everything in between! @Severus Alexander, wow, that is quite the Yi Hua you’ve shown! You’ve gotten the rarest of this interesting series first. I used to own the value six version, Yi Liu Hua, but seeing as it had no rims (!) and a strangely uniform patina, it was doubtful at best. Your coins looks more than good to me, note the slightly raised rim. I could go on for a while explaining the extremely interesting yet complex discussion concerning the reading of the characters on this coin, but let’s leave that for another topic . Whether they truly are the first round coins with square holes, remains up for debate. While the approximate date for this series of Qi-round coins has been established relatively firmly (late 4th century right until the final downfall of Qi), it all depends on how you date and attribute the Qin Ban Liangs. Initially, scholars dated all of them to the Qin and Han dynasties, but this has been proven wrong by archaeology. Qin tombs from the Warring states period have yielded many Ban Liangs, often humongous in size (these were most likely funerary coins). We can now prove that production of the Ban Liang started much and much earlier, possibly as far back as 378 BC. That would make these Ban Liangs the oldest square-hole ‘washers’. I love all the blue on your specimen, @Loong Siew! Kind of similar to mine, but slightly darker shade of blue on the obverse. Awesome! Now, where have I seen these coins before, @TypeCoin971793? I am still a little jealous of that Xiangyuan spade, with its slightly rare calligraphy and an unlisted reveres character! But alas, we divided the lots fair and square. Your Yuan round coin was the original trigger for me to start actively looking for an example of my own. And now I have two . The imprint on the reverse makes it even cooler, let alone the beautiful red areas of (transfer) patina! Yes, that is indeed a valid question. To be honest, I am not sure we know the answer, but it would seem logical. After all, most cities with Wang in their name have something to do with royalty. Wangcheng, etc. But in this case the question would be: which royalty? A reference to the city of Wangyuan is given before the marquis of the state of Wei elevated himself to ‘king’ (Wang) in 344. Assuming that the Wang part of the name was indeed part of the contemporary name and not just a later addition by historiographers, one would assume that it can’t refer to the Wei royal lineage. The most logical option would be that Wang refers to the Zhou kings. But their history is documented in the fullest detail, without a single mention of this city. The city was apparently known as a residential site for Shang-dynasty elites, for ‘getting away from the busy capital’. But this was under a different name, centuries before its name was changed to Wangyuan. I am not sure to be honest, and I am not sure anyone knows…. Mika
Really cool post! I am really interested in visiting China sometime in the next couple years, do you know of any museums there that talk about the history of these coins?
Every main city should have a museum and within would include some ancient coins. Nonetheless a more prominent one would be the Shanghai Museum
Nice writeup. Nice to see something different than MS-69 or PR-70 ASEs on here. Real numismatics is a science, not just filling holes. Thank you for broadening the horizon.
