Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TypeCoin971793, post: 2748358, member: 78244&quot;]My earliest AE coins:</p><p><br /></p><p>Hollow-Handled Spade. Ca 600-400 BC. (Likely pre-500 BC based of literary texts of that era.) The obverse character has not been deciphered (I cannot find it anywhere), but it is almost certainly a mint name of some sort.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]628862[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Another Hollow-Handled spade, though later in the progression. Ca 400-300 BC. The obverse character is &quot;Wu,&quot; which is the name of a military city in the state of Liang. This one might be fake, but I am not too concerned if it is.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]628863[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Here is an arch-foot spade, which is said to be the bridge between the hollow-handles and flat-handles. Ca 400-300 BC. This one has a clear issuing authority (State of Liang) and a clear denomination (2 Jin). I&#039;d love to see you try to prove this to not be a coin. [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]628865[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This is a Qi knife. Ca 400-220 BC. The obverse reads &quot;Qi Fa Hua&quot; or &quot;Qi Legal Money.&quot; Qi refers to the name of the state which minted these. Again, if this is not a coin, then what is?</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]628868[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This is the earliest round coin issued in China, ca 350-220 BC. Its inscription reads &quot;Yuan,&quot; which is the name of the minting city in the State of Yuan. Based on the weights of these coin, it is likely that these were denominated 1 Jin, though mine is a very light specimen at nearly a half Jin. States that produced spade coins denominated their coins in &quot;Jins&quot; and produced round coins with round holes.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]628872[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Here is another early round coin, though this one is later in the 350-220 BC time period than the above coin. Also note that this is one of the first occurances with the sqare hole. The inscription reads &quot;Yi Liu Hua,&quot; which translates at &quot;Six Hua of the City of Yi.&quot; This coin was cast by the state of Qi, which made knife coins and denominated its coins with &quot;Hua,&quot; or &quot;knife,&quot; and produced round coins with sqaure holes. This practice was eventually adopted by the state of Qin as it proved to be the superior manufacturing technique, as coins spin less while being filed on a square rod.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]628876[/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