Chinese coins

Chinese “10 Cash” Coins Overstruck on Korean “5 Fun” Coins

April 30, 2012
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China faced a severe shortage of small denomination coins at the end of the Qing Dynasty.  To help alleviate the shortage, the Guangdong mint in the year 1900 began to produce a new style coin that was radically different from the hand-cast bronze “cash” coins with the square hole that had been used for more [...]

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How Chinese Archaeologists Clean Coins

February 27, 2012
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Chinese archaeologists frequently unearth ancient coins at tomb sites.  While old Chinese coins do not have actual dates on them, they do have inscriptions which can help date the site being excavated. Having been buried for hundreds or thousands of years, it is quite common for these old bronze coins to be so severely corroded [...]

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Coin Design Discovered on Wall Bricks from Kingdom of Min

February 22, 2012
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The ruins of an ancient city wall dating from the Tang Dynasty were recently discovered in Fuzhou (福州), the capital city of China’s southeastern province of Fujian (福建), according to a local newspaper article. The city wall dates back 1,100 years and is unusual because some of the bricks display the design of an ancient [...]

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Ancient Coins Discovered in Golden Horse River

November 12, 2011
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More than 100 local villagers were seen busily overturning rocks in a small flood plain area of Sichuan Province’s “Golden Horse River” (金马河) once word spread that a large number of ancient Chinese coins had been discovered, according to a report by the Sichuan News Network (四川新闻网). Villagers of the Wenjiang District (温江区) of Chengdu [...]

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China’s Biggest Ancient Coin

November 3, 2011
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The official New China News Agency (新华社) revealed in 1997 that Chinese archaeologists working in the southwestern province of Yunnan had unearthed a huge Ming Dynasty coin which was described as the largest and heaviest ancient Chinese coin ever found. The coin was cast during the reign of Emperor Shi Zong (1522-1567) to commemorate the [...]

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Coffin Contains Coin Instead of Corpse

November 2, 2011
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An article in the Suqian Evening News (宿迁晚报) reported an unusual discovery.  Chinese archaeologists excavating a multiple tomb site in Suqian (宿迁), a city in northern Jiangsu Province (江苏), unearthed a coffin with no corpse.  The only thing inside the casket was a coin. Most of the tombs being excavated at the site date from [...]

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Coins Discovered at Rufu Stone Pagoda

October 28, 2011
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Chinese archaeologists working at an ancient stone pagoda in Hainan Province (海南省) recently made a discovery which will help to establish the date when the pagoda was originally built. An article in the October 27, 2011 edition of the Haikou Evening News (海口晚报) describes the restoration work being done at the Rufu Stone Pagoda (儒符石塔) [...]

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Lu Xun and Chinese Coins

October 26, 2011
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Lu Xun (鲁迅 1881-1936) is recognized as one of the greatest Chinese writers of the 20th Century and the founder of modern Chinese literature. Few people, however, are aware of Lu Xun’s contributions to Chinese numismatics.  He was not only a collector of ancient Chinese coins but he also wrote a manuscript annotating Chinese coins [...]

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Tons of Song Dynasty Iron Coins Discovered

October 21, 2011
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A Chinese newspaper reported today that several tons of iron coins dating from the Song Dynasty were recently discovered in a field near the city of Cangzhou (沧州), Hebei Province in northeast China.  Although the coins protruding through the soil have rusted together, they can still be seen just the way they were arranged in [...]

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Xian Numismatic Museum

September 27, 2011
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The official opening of the Xian Numismatic Museum (西安钱币博物馆) was announced today in a Chinese newspaper article. The new money museum is located in the ancient city of Xian (西安), the capital of Shaanxi Province (陕西).  Xian, formerly known as Changan (长安), has a history of more than 3,100 years and was the eastern terminus [...]

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Chinese “World of Brightness” Coin

September 18, 2011
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The first Chinese machine-made cash coins were minted during the reign (1875-1908) of Emperor De Zong of the Qing Dynasty. As seen at the left, these brass coins had the inscription guang xu tong bao (光緒通寶).  Many of these coins were struck at the mint in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province during the years 1889-1908. Another coin [...]

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More than 2,200 Rare “Later Jin Dynasty” Coins Discovered

September 14, 2011

According to an article published in today’s Liaoning Daily (辽宁日报), the local police have arrested a gang of thieves who unearthed more than 2,200 rare coins dating from the Later Jin (后金) Dynasty (1616-1636 AD). According to the report, the Bureau of Public Security of Liaoyang City (辽阳市) has arrested three men suspected of the [...]

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