Ancient Chinese Coins
Ancient Chinese coins date back to 2000 BC during the Xia dynasty. There are still coins used today, but then they varied in size and shape and were used for many different things.
During the Shang and Western Zhou eras there were numerous types of coins that came into use. The very first of these coins were cowry money. These were originally made of shells, but substitutes became used later that were made from carved bone. The cowry was outlawed in 221 BC.
When the Warring States and Spring-Autumn dynasties came into effect, we were introduced to many new coins. Hollow-shaft spade coins are one example of this. One of the other coins that was unusually interesting looked somewhat like a knife. These very large “coins” had a hole at one end for the purposes of stringing them together. These specific coins, “The Ming”, are the namesake of the famous city. The “Bu” spade coin also came from this era also. Some of the very first circular coins came from this rime frame as well.
Between 221 BC and 207 BC was the Qin dynasty. This was the first time they used precious metals such as bronze and gold to make coins. These were not the first metal coins by any means, however. Metal coins existed between 600 BC and 300 BC during the Pre-Chou and Chou dynasties.
Ancient coins that are not worth much today considering how old they are, are the Pan Liang coins. They were around for at least 2000 years. Up until 1911 AD, they were still in use. The coins were made between 140 BC to 118 BC. It is a round coin with a square in the middle.
During the Han dynasty, which was between 206BC to 220AD, minting coins was made into a state monopoly. In the first century, 220,000 strings of 1000 coins each were made. Coins of the western Han used a casting mould of bronze to make the coins easy to standardize. They used artists to incise the mold since it only had to be done once.
A coin much like the Pan Liang was introduced under Emperor Yuan-shou. This was called the Wu-Ch’u. The only difference between the two coins was really that the Wu-Ch’u had a rim to protect it from wear. For hundreds of years this coin was duplicated.
One coin used during the Mongol period between 1280-1368 was a round coin with a square in the middle. It had many intricate designs. This coin was stopped from use very quickly due to people hoarding them. They were given a time period to return them or be punished.
Ancient Chinese coins very old, very detailed history. There have been so many unique unusually shaped coins. The coins have had many different materials. Many of the coins eventually became formed metal. The coins details all came from the current dynasty’s rulers.
A Spring Assist Knife vs. An Automatic Switchblade