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A Yuan Feng Tong Bao (元豐通寶) from the Northern Song dynasty with a "flower (or 'rosette') hole" in the middle. Chinese cash coins with flower (rosette) holes (traditional Chinese: 花穿錢; simplified Chinese: 花穿钱; pinyin: huā chuān qián) are a type of Chinese cash coin with an octagonal hole as opposed to a square one, they ...
These cash coins have the character Fu (Chinese: 福; pinyin: fú) on the reverse in reference to Fuzhou. They are made of lead. Wang Shenzhi: Yonglong Tongbao: 永隆通寶: yǒnglóng tōng bǎo: These iron cash coins have the character Min (Chinese: 閩; pinyin: mǐn) on the reverse and comes from the Fujian region. There is a crescent below.
Chinese coins were usually made from mixtures of metals such copper, tin and lead, from bronze, brass or iron: precious metals like gold and silver were uncommonly used. The ratios and purity of the coin metals varied considerably. Most Chinese coins were produced with a square hole in the middle.
Some coins give the impression that holes were used to save metal, though it may not be possible to prove with certainty that this was the reason for creating the holes. An example of such a coin with a fairly large hexagonal hole is a undated tin 1 cash coin, minted in the period 1550–1596, that circulated in the Banten Sultanate on Java and ...
Historically, Chinese coins were round with a square hole in the center. On the obverse side, there are usually words indicating the emperor's reign name or era name. On the reverse side, there are words or graphic patterns often indicating denomination or a mint mark. It is also possible that there is nothing on the reverse side.
A notable characteristic is that the outer rim on Kangxi Tongbao cash coins on both sides of the coin tend to be quite wide, in contrast to that of the square center hole (方穿, fāng chuān). Apart from the two mints in the capital city of Beijing operated by the central government, many provincial mints operated intermittently.
The centre square hole is claimed to be a "reference to the well-known Chinese Feng-Shui coins" (Remetendo para as conhecidas moedas-amuleto em circulação na China). [47] It is the second entry in the series "Portugal and the East" (Portugal e o Oriente) with a motif typically found on both Chinese and Portuguese porcelain. [47]
The hole enabled the coins to be strung together to create higher denominations, as was frequently done due to the coin's low value. The number of coins in a string of cash (simplified Chinese: 一贯钱; traditional Chinese: 一貫錢; pinyin: yīguàn qián) varied over time and place but was nominally 1000. [4]