Northern Southern Dynasties (AD 420-581) Four Zhu - Ding Xiang city (Hartill 13.57) Unusual shaped 4 Zhu coin. These were issued during thr tumultuous times of war between the north and southern dynasties and were regarded to be likely local trade coinage within cities given the weakness of a strong central economy/currency (e.g. ancient Notgeld). Whilst varieties exists, all were considered rare and it is one of a few rare occasions to see an unusual shaped coin like this for centuries to come.
That is neat. Ive never seen anything like that. What are the dimensions? I can't wait for my copy of Hartill to arrive so I can see what other unusual things are there. I don't know if you've seen my new spade? It's not as unusual as your new coin, but it is unusual to me.
My specimen is pretty small. The weight is an equivalent of 4 zhu which is slightly lighter than 1 cash.
Awesome @Loong Siew ! I think they are VERY interesting! Me too: China Sui Dynasty 589-619 CE (possibly 200-100 BCE - Western Han) 4-Shu Hartill 13.53 w-hanger below RARE
I have also heard Sui and Western Han as dates for these coins. Not much is known about them. I have one as well. Frank Robinson has several that are fairly inexpensive (not one of them is over $100). Bob Reis told me that it was probably from the Jeffery Young collection.
There is some discussion of these in this thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/post-your-chinese-coins-thread.290639/ Apparently current scholarship attributes them to the Liu Song, emperor Wen Ti (424 - 453 AD). (See Ken Dorney's contribution to the thread.)
There is a reference on it by Hartill (13.57) who attributed it to the Northern Sourhern Dynasties period where Liu-Song was part of. But that was not definitive.
I believe Ken's research on this goes well beyond Hartill, and into some of the contemporary Chinese literature. @Ken Dorney?
