ANCIENT COINAGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1004, 21 June 1930, Page 12

ANCIENT COINAGE

EARLIEST EXAMPLE CAME FROM JTREECE ABOUT 700 B.C. The earliest known coins issued were those of Greece, about 700 8.C.; by 400 B.C. practically the whole civilised world used money, each State usually having its proper coinage and this continued to be the case right down to the present time. Today there are very few nations or peoples who are without a metal currency of their own, and of these not many are unacquainted with the use of coins. Numismatics confirm history, have a direct relation to the beliefs of the nations by which the coins were issued, and are scarcely less valuable in relation to geography than to history and mythology. The position of towns on the sea, or rivers; the race of their inhabitants, and many similar particulars are positively fixed on numismatic evidence. The art of sculpture, of which coin engraving is an offspring, receives the illustration from numismatics. Not only is the memory of many lost statues preserved to us in the designs of ancient coins, hut those of Greece afford admirable examples of that skill by -which her sculptors attained their great renown. Coins tend also to illustrate the contemporary literature of the nations which issued them; not only historians but poets and philosophers are constantly illustrated by the money of their time.

One of the most interesting of the ancient coinage systems is that of the Chinese. In ancient Chinese literature, “coinage” is mentioned as being in use as early as 675 B.C. in the Shantung district, but before the 7th Century B.C. this probably consisted either of uncoined metal, paper, silk, bamboo, shells, etc. The latter played a large part in China until it was suppressed about 300 8.C.; Wang Mang tried to revive the shell currency in about 5 or 6 A.D., but was unsuccessful. The earliest Chinese metal currency of -which specimens are extant are of cast bronze. The gold and silver currency which appeared sporadically can never have been of very great importance; a “Kin” or cubic inch of gold, -which was in use during the Hau period, is preserved in the museum at Paris. At various

times iron coins were also issued, generally during the short reign of some bandit holding temporary sway. The ancient bronze coins of China fell into two main classes; the earliest as a rule, having the shape of various implements, such as spades, knives, etc., and in some cases the shape of clothing; the second class being the round “cash” with the hole in the centre, sometimes this hole being square and sometimes round. The shape of the hole had its meaning—almost a prayer. The square hole represented the earth god and the circular hole the sun god, and they stood as supplications to the deities of the sun and earth to increase prosperity, which meant an increase in the mintage—and that, again, means that the circle and square will be repeated so many more thousands of times, thus assuring the power and stability of these deities. The old “knife” currency practically came to an end in 221 8.C., though it doubtless lingered on for many years in some of the move remote towns and villages. This old J “knife” money was cast with a ring at the end, evidently for convenience in carrying; hut during the reign of Wang Mang the Usurper, A.D. 7—22, a new kind of knife money was introduced, with a disc at one end in which was a square hole. The “cash” has been a variable quantity, both in size and weight, since its inception —frequently when a new Emperor came to the throne he would institute a new coinage, larger and heavier than that of the previous reign, but in time this again diminished in size. The value of the ancient Chinese coins depended on their weight, but the weight described was by no means always the correct one. The bronze coinage from 13S B.C. to about A.D. 622 is fairly uniform (Tang dynasty). With the Tang dynasty commenced a new era in the coinage of China, ui so much as the Government established an entirely new money which bore the legend. “K’ai Yuan T’ung Pao,” meaning "Currency of the New Beginning.” On the reverse of the coins of this period was a crescentshaped mark, supposed to have been made by the nail of the Empress Wen-Teh. The story of the origin of this mark is rather curious, and was supposed to have arisen in this way: One of the State officials, who had himself written the characters for the new coin, showed a model in wax to the Empress Wen-Teh, who, in touching it, left the impression of her finger nail, which made a crescent-shaped mark. It was considered a good augury, and was allowed to remain; not I only so, hut it was forthwith copied ! on the coinage of Japan, Korea and Annam. Paper money was issued in China as early as the 9th century. The first organised State miutage was instituted in the Ts’in dynasty, about 220 A.D. The very early Chinese coins never by any chance bore the actual name of the emperor, but rather the weight or value, and sometimes geographical names were in- | scribed on the coins; but in later ‘ years they bore in full the title asi sumed by the reigning monarch. The { titles were called Nein-Hao, meaning i year names or periods, and were j changed in some cases many times j during a reign; but since the Ming { dynasty (1465) have only been renewed on the accession of a new em- ! peror, with one exception. I Many separate towns issued their ! own money with their own legends, in the “PIT” coins ten towns issued from 14 to 26 different designs during the fourth century, 8.C., a difference only in the inscriptions of a serial on the reverse of the coin, or in a change in arrangement of the written characters, being made. Some i States issued as many as 60 variants. I The so-called “Clothes Money” took the shape, roughly, of the article of clothing which it purchased, as, for Instance, “shirt money” purchased a shirt, “trouser money” purchased trousers, and so on. The real name of this money is “Pu” money. The meaning of the word “Pu” is "spread out”—it was also known as "Plate” money. The Pu money really degenerated from the old “Spade” money. The early Pu money was in circulation. from the sixth to the third century, 8.C., and was only superseded when the round metallic money came into being in the Ts-in dynasty after 220 B.C. In 337 B.C. metallic pieces were issued for the first time in the State of Ts’in by King Hwei Wen. Pu I money was re-issued in the Han dynS asty, and known as “New Pu money.”