Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Loong Siew, post: 2237526, member: 75799&quot;]Wadokaichin. Ancient Japan.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nara period. 708-759. Extremely rare. Ex Stephen Album.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]440898[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]440899[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Officially, they should have been pronounced as Wado Kaiho. The zhen 珎&nbsp; was an archaic attempt by the Japanese to simplify the intended character of treasure &quot;寳&quot; (pronounced as Ho) by retaining only the centre particle. The wado was significant to the Japanese as they were their first attempt to mint their own coinage as opposed to importing and using the Tang Dynasty Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寶）.&nbsp; Officially decreed by the then Empress Genmei in AD708, they imitated the calligraphy of the Tang Kaiyuan (particularly obvious on the Kai character) but using recently discovered copper deposits in the Musashi province. These were separated between the old &quot;Ko&quot; Wado, an intermediary silver Wado and finally from 720-759 the new &quot;Shin&quot; Wado after employing Tang mint officials to improve their minting techniques. Wado incidentally meant Japanese Copper with Wa 和 being the ancient name for Japan and 同 being a possible abbreviation for 銅 meaning copper.</p><p><br /></p><p>The ko wado is copper but given the infancy of their mintage and purer content, they are significantly cruder and of poor state of preservation. As opposed to the Shin after significant advancements from Tang Dynasty mint officials, the quality is significantly superior.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today, the Wadokaichin remained a symbolic icon of Japan&#039;s economic history. The original copper mine has now become a national historical shrine. More details can be referred to as per link.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/wadokuroya-chichibu" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/wadokuroya-chichibu" rel="nofollow">http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/wadokuroya-chichibu</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]440898[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]440899[/ATTACH][/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