Ask the expert to teach the identification of copper coins in Qing dynasty.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the development of commodity economy, the metal weighing currency that needs to be divided and identified in circulation gradually became unsuitable and was replaced by metal coins.

From the Spring and Autumn Period to the stage of metal coinage to the Warring States Period, four currency systems, namely cloth coin, knife coin, ant nose coin and ring coin, were established successively:

1, the central plains is the royal family of Zhao, Han, Wei and Zhou, mainly in cloth coins. Cloth coins are born out of bronze shovel-shaped farm tools, which is the homonym of "cloth". The cloth coins in the Spring and Autumn Period were mainly hollow cloth, that is, hollow coins with handles. The cloth coins in the Warring States period were mainly flat-shouldered cloth, that is, compared with the "empty-shouldered cloth", they had no hollow handle, but were shaped like shovel-shaped copper sheets. The shapes of cloth coins can be roughly divided into flat shoulders, shoulders, round shoulders and square feet, pointed feet and round feet. The most common ones are flat-shouldered cloth or square-shouldered feet, which evolved from round-shouldered feet and later extended to Chu and Yan States.

2. Qi in the east and Yan in the north mainly use knife coins. Knife coins are divided into "Yan Ming Dao" and "Qi Dao Hua". The shape of knife coins is similar to that used by northern nomadic people such as Shanrong and Beidi. Because the face of the knife has the word "Hua", it is called "Dao". The back of the knife is divided into arc back, folded back and straight back, and the cutter head is divided into flat head and pointed head. It was also an early copper coin in China.

3. The state of Qin in the northwest used ring coins alone, and its shape evolved from spinning wheel or jade wall. There are two kinds of ring coins: round hole and square hole. During the Warring States Period, round holes were cast earlier, and Wang Huiwen and Qin Shihuang in the late Qin Dynasty cast "half-liang" coins with round holes. Circular money is the original state of square hole money.

4. The copper shell cast by the southern Chu State is called Ant Nose Money, which evolved from shell coins. Qian Wen, a copper shell, looks like a grimace, which is a combination of two characters. An ant's small nose means small money. Chu has bronze shell coins commonly known as "face money" and "ant nose money". In addition to ant nose money, Chu also has gold as the weighing currency, which is the only country in the Warring States period that used gold as the currency.

In a word, the four monetary systems in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period evolved from the tools of labor production such as knives, shovels and spinning wheels, which showed the regional characteristics and social features of economic life such as fighting, fishing and hunting, pottery making, textiles and trade exchanges. At the same time, the formation of the four major currency areas is also the product of the warlord regime. With the development of economy and commodity trade. The mutual circulation of currencies in various countries requires and correspondingly promotes the trend of unification and standardization of monetary systems.

[Edit this paragraph] III. Evolution of Currency in Past Dynasties

Gang Qian refers to a currency legally issued by the state or local government. "Eye money" is derived from different versions of an outline money. The outline is raised to form a coin system. Taking money as a clue, we can understand the history of currency evolution; Taking money as a clue, we can intervene in the appreciation and archaeology of ancient coins. The following mainly explains the political, economic and historical changes in ancient times from the evolution of currencies in previous dynasties.

The system of outline money from Qin and Han dynasties to Ming and Qing dynasties can be divided into two stages. The first stage: the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties were dominated by copper coins, which was a dual-system stage dominated by Qin's "half two coins" and Han's "five two coins". In the second stage, from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming Dynasty, the year number of coins was cleared, and the Bowen system was different from the first two systems, and the paper money silver standard system also appeared, which was divided into two parts.

(A) Qin and Han Dynasties "half a penny"

After Qin unified the six countries, political unity needed economic unity as the basis. Qin Shihuang followed the historical development trend and unified writing, weights and measures and currency. It is stipulated that "gold" is the upper currency, 20 taels is the unit, and copper coins with round holes are the lower currency and half taels are the unit. Qian Wen's "half Liang" is consistent with the actual weight. As the main form of China currency, this square hole round money has been used for more than two thousand years. Why take this shape? Mainly ring-shaped, easy to carry, the square hole is not easy to rotate through the rope, which can prevent wear. Some people think that this form expresses the world outlook of ancient people. Square hole round coins in Qin Dynasty were the earliest official legal tender in the world.

To distinguish the "half-taels of money" between the Warring States and the Qin Dynasty, we can start with calligraphy. During the Warring States Period, Qian Wen's "Half Beam" was a big seal; In the Qin Dynasty, Qian Wen's "Half Liang" was a small seal. According to legend, Qin coins were cast by Prime Minister Lisi. Probably influenced by this, most of Qian Wen after Qin Dynasty came from dignitaries or calligraphers. There was also money for imperial books in the Song Dynasty. One of the differences between Chinese ancient coins and western currencies is that the layout of Chinese ancient coins is mainly Qian Wen, and there are few patterns of circulating coins, while western currencies are mainly animals, plants, people and other patterns. The art of ancient money calligraphy is another topic.

It is said that Qin Shihuang collected weapons from all over the world and cast twelve gold men to prevent the people from rebelling. This will inevitably affect the casting amount of copper coins. Due to the extremely high copper price and insufficient currency circulation, Qin Banliang's money is of high value. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the problem of "Qin money is heavy (expensive) and difficult to use" appeared. Han inherited the Qin system in a semi-literary style, but when Liu Bang became emperor, the country was very poor, and a lot of small money was cast instead, including "Yu pod half 28 baht half two, four baht half two, etc." One or two is 24 baht. Because Qin Banliang's weight loss effect is remarkable, the name of "Banliang" is inconsistent with reality. In particular to an elm-shaped' white elm', the weight of which is less than 1g and the diameter is less than 1cm. In the Han Dynasty, private minting was allowed, and coins were minted in counties, which led to currency disorder and inflation. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made great changes to the monetary system.

(B) "Five baht money" in Han Dynasty and its evolution

1, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty initiated "five baht money".

After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, it was urgent to open up financial resources. At the same time, counties and countries freely cast money, which leads to currency confusion and rising prices, threatening the central finance. So Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in BC 165438 ordered the abolition of the coinage right of counties and states in the early Han Dynasty, and changed it to central unified coinage. Set up "Shanglin three officials", that is, Guan Zhong (in charge of casting money), distinguish copper (in charge of raw materials) and equal loss (in charge of making models), and form a central coin-making institution to be responsible for casting five baht money, also known as Shanglin money and three official money. The high quality of five baht money has changed the phenomenon of currency confusion, which is conducive to centralization and economic development. From Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, Xin Mang, Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties, it lasted more than 700 years. Five baht has long been the legal tender of each dynasty. Because the weight of five iron coins is suitable, China's square round coins with "five baht" as the main shape have also influenced Japan, Annan, North Korea and other countries. The current monetary unit in Thailand is still called "Thai baht", which is not unrelated.

2. The chaos of the new mang currency system and the appearance of fine coins.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang established a new dynasty, reformed the ancient system, and issued money indiscriminately. For example, "Daq50" is a large sum of money invested by Wang Mang to solve the economic crisis after he took office. "Spring" is a foreign word of "money". Wang Mang believes in latitude theory. After he seized the surname of Liu, he was afraid of the word "Liu", which was composed of Mao, Jin and Dao. Therefore, Qian Wenzhong used the word "spring" instead of "gold". The weight of a "Daquan Fifty" is only two and a half times that of the Western Han Dynasty, but it should be used as fifty baht. This means that every time a large amount of money is issued, it will take away 47.5 baht of wealth from the people, which will inevitably cause people's dissatisfaction, so the people still use 5 baht for transactions. Because of this, Wang Mang stipulated in the "Severe Punishment and Cool Law" that anyone who dares to hide five baht will be taken as a prisoner to guard the border. It can be seen from the chaos of the monetary system that Wang Mang's rule is unpopular and will undoubtedly collapse. In addition, there is also a kind of big bill called "five thousand knives", that is, a big bill is five thousand baht. Someone must die and forge such a big coin. In order to guard against theft and forge private money, in addition to the criminal law, a new coin shape was created, that is, the world's first two-color metal coin, which was formed by combining ancient knife coins with round coins. In order to prevent counterfeiting and private casting, official bank coins such as "Daquan 50" and "Daoping 5,000" are "exquisitely crafted", and this distorted style has also made future generations cry for thousands of years.

The Eastern Han Dynasty restored the five-baht money system since the Western Han Dynasty. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo went to Beijing to destroy five baht to make small money, which triggered inflation and plunged the monetary system into chaos again.

3, "Six Dynasties and Five baht" bad money

The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were the split period of China, with frequent wars, political turmoil and social and economic destruction. History calls this period "the monetary law is very bad". In order to save copper, five baht is getting smaller and smaller, which is called "goose eye" and "corn eye". There is even a kind of cutting edge ring, called cutting five baht, which changes one yuan into two yuan, but it has a large denomination and can be used for thousands of purposes. The five baht money in this period is collectively called "five baht in six dynasties" in the coin world. The Six Dynasties were Wu, Eastern Jin, Southern Song, Qi, Liang and Chen. The five baht money in this period was badly cast, and the Cultural Revolution rate and strokes were incomplete. Some people write "five baht" as "hardware", while others write "five baht" as an anti-text. However, there are exceptions to the five baht, such as "Taihe Five baht" and "Yong 'an Five baht" in the Northern Wei Dynasty, which are called "as important as their prose" in history, and their high quality not only reminds people of a series of successful reforms of Emperor Xiaowen in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

4. "Five baht money" and rumors in Sui Dynasty.

Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty cast "five baht to open the emperor", which ended the complicated situation of the monetary system for more than 300 years since the end of the Han Dynasty and was also the last dynasty to use five baht. Emperor Yang Di was tyrannical. Some people recognized the word "five baht" or "X" in the Sui Dynasty as "X", and there was a vertical character on the left, which looked like "fierce" after being put down, so some people said it was a bad omen for the Sui Dynasty, indicating that its demise was not far away. Therefore, the "five baht money" in the Sui Dynasty is very arguable. In fact, the Northern Wei Dynasty also wrote this way, but the people cursed the tyranny of the Sui Dynasty.

(3) Since the Tang Dynasty, the square-hole round banknotes have evolved from the two-baht system to the year number and the system with "Wen" as the unit, and from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, which is the second stage of currency development.

1, Tang Gaozu pioneered "Bowen" and "Annual Money"

The Tang Dynasty was a powerful dynasty with developed economy and culture. According to research, Tang Gaozu Wude minted Kaiyuan coins in 62 1 year, ending the coin system named after two baht since Qin and Han Dynasties, creating the year number with "Wen" as the unit after Tang and Song Dynasties, and minting copper coins. "Kaiyuan" has the meaning of creation and initiative, and "Bao Tong" is a treasure in circulation. There has been a great breakthrough in the unit of weight. In ancient times, the weighing method of 24 baht was one or two. "Kaiyuan Bao Tong" initiated the decimal system. Each piece weighs two baht, four pieces are one penny, and the accumulated ten pence weighs one or two, that is, ten pence is one or two "to replace baht with money". Kaiyuan Bao Tong was cast in the Tang Dynasty for more than 200 years, which made the monetary system stable for a long time. The money system in the Tang Dynasty, with "Wen" as the unit and money as the unit of weight, lasted for thousands of years until the Qing Dynasty. According to another legend, Tang Gaozu's "Kaiyuan Bao Tong" was written by Ouyang Jian, a calligrapher in the early Tang Dynasty, and is known as a calligraphy coin.

After the Anshi Rebellion, in order to cope with financial difficulties and make a lot of money, Tang Suzong called it "dry yuan and heavy treasure". This is the earliest money called "Bao", and one treasure is the first ten pence, which has caused devaluation, soaring prices, serious counterfeiting and people's anxiety. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Wuzong abolished Buddhism and took a lot of money from Buddhist copper to cast "Huichang Kaiyuan", which eased the deflation that lasted for half a century. "Gan Yuan" and "Huichang" are both Gregorian years.

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was a period of separatist disputes among warlords, and it was also a period of currency chaos, because there were many regimes and various currencies. Besides copper, there are also tin and iron. Large coins cost ten to one hundred, even thousands to ten thousand. The confusion and complexity of the monetary system reflects the economic deterioration caused by the separatist war.

To sum up, the square hole coin of copper coins has changed from the two systems of Thai baht to the year number, and the Bowen system is a major turning point in the development of money.

(4) In addition to the removal of copper coins from Song Dynasty to Ming Dynasty, it also produced another turning point in the development of paper money and silver standard system.

1, annual money, imperial book money and paper money in Song Dynasty

The notable feature of copper coins in Song Dynasty is the adoption of year number. According to textual research, the title of the year originated from Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, and the title of money began with Li Shou's "Han Xing Qian" in Chengdu, Sichuan Province during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. The last year's money was Yuan Shikai's "The first year of Hongxian, when it was ten coppers." The money collapsed with Yuan Shikai and existed for less than four months. "Nianqian" is cast with the year number and the casting time, which is clear at a glance when studying the age of ancient coins, and it is the progress of the development of coin forms. The coins of the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties are the easiest to collect in each dynasty.

In addition, the number of calligraphy in the past dynasties can be seen in the Song Dynasty. According to legend, there are four styles of Yuanfeng coins minted during Yuanfeng period in Song Shenzong, namely seal script, official script, regular script and cursive script. Among them, Su Dongpo's official script "Qian Wen" is calm and heroic, and is called "Dongpo Yuanfeng". During the reign of Song Zhezong, Sima Guang and Su Dongpo wrote Yuan Yu Bao Tong, a pair of calligraphy. Make the book currency popular in the Song Dynasty. The emperor who is good at calligraphy can't bear loneliness, and often shows his skill in Qian Wen. According to textual research, Song Taizong Zhao Huan was the first person who wrote "Imperial Calligraphy Money" by the emperor, and Song Huizong Evonne had the highest achievement in calligraphy among the emperors. He was incompetent in governing the country and keeping the country safe, and the "shame of Jingkang" was captured by nomadic people with his son Qinzong. However, I have a special liking for Qin Qin's chess and calligraphy, especially the calligraphy "thin gold body" iron painting silver hook, which is unique. The popularity of calligraphy coins in Song Dynasty was related to the emperor's personal admiration, especially the popularity of imperial calligraphy coins with year numbers. Qian Wen's style changed in the Ming Dynasty. Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, Qian Wen has been made by craftsmen, with plain fonts, no one cares about its layout and structure, and the art of calligraphy is out of the question.

In the Song Dynasty, coins were cast in parallel with copper coins and iron coins. Because bronzes are more valuable than copper coins, there is a phenomenon of destroying money castings, and iron coins appear because copper coins are scarce. In addition, with the shift of economic center of gravity to the south and the expansion of currency circulation, the paper money produced in Song Dynasty is the earliest paper money in the world. This kind of paper money is a symbolic currency, a product of the development of social commodity economy to a certain stage, and also related to the progress of papermaking and printing technology. There were mainly Jiaozi in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Keiko and Guanzi in the Southern Song Dynasty. Jiaozi and Huizi were the general names of bills, securities and securities at that time. Whether the currency value is stable has become a barometer of the economic and financial situation.

Northern minority regimes such as Liao, Song and Xixia were influenced by the economy and culture of the Central Plains in their contacts with the Han nationality. They not only used copper coins cast in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but also issued copper coins in national languages and Chinese.

2. The monetary system in Yuan Dynasty was dominated by paper money.

A small amount of copper coins were cast in the Yuan Dynasty, but the currency mainly circulated paper money. This was outstanding in ancient China. Paper money in the Yuan Dynasty was called paper money. It is not allowed to misappropriate original banknotes, and the circulation of banknotes is strictly restricted. However, by the end of the Yuan Dynasty, political corruption, royal extravagance, huge military expenditure and fiscal deficit had to be compensated by the government's indiscriminate issuance of paper money, resulting in soaring prices. Coupled with the diversion and flooding of the Yellow River, natural disasters and man-made disasters are called "the root of the disaster of changing banknotes", which shows that the spamming of banknotes is closely related to the demise of the Yuan Dynasty.

3. The policy of paper money in Ming Dynasty was changed to a system of giving priority to silver, supplemented by money.

Although issuing paper money is a progress in the history of currency, the rulers of past dynasties used it to exploit and plunder the people, which led to the collapse of paper money policy. For example, in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang carried out the paper money policy and issued "Daming Treasure Money" to be used together with copper coins. However, Daming's paper money had no fixed issue quota and no reserve, which soon led to inflation. Therefore, after Ye Jiajing's rule in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, paper money was no longer accessible, and people mainly used silver and copper coins. For example, in the "Banjiang" in the Ming Dynasty, silver was used instead of labor, instead of the wages of employees, and instead of the rich to accumulate wealth. The amount of silver was cast into a certain standard silver ingot from the Yuan Dynasty, and the silver ingot was named as "Yuanbao" from the Yuan Dynasty to the first year, which was the beginning of China calling the silver ingot "Yuanbao". At the same time, copper is very popular among the people. The material is changed from bronze to brass, and Bao Tong coins with year numbers are cast.

4. Copper coins, paper money and mechanism coins in Qing Dynasty

Copper coins in Qing dynasty followed the system of Ming dynasty, mainly casting Xiaoping coins. Xianfeng is the most complicated copper coin in Qing Dynasty. Qian Wen is divided into Bao Tong, Chongbao and Yuanbao, with different denominations and different money bureaus. In the Qing dynasty, folk businesses used silver, small money used money, and money and silver went hand in hand.

In the early Qing dynasty, silver ingots were used as the main currency, and cashiers were required to collect one or two more taxes. In the Qing dynasty, land tax was levied in summer and autumn every year, and the grain must be full of silver. Because the central government does not cast silver coins in uniform circulation, the silver used by the people may not be enough, and the shape, fineness and flat size of silver ingots vary from place to place. Therefore, before paying taxes, silversmiths and silver shops cast scattered silver coins into enough silver. Some silversmiths colluded with officials and took the opportunity to seriously deprive people of the quality and weight of silver, which caused many complicated social problems.

In the late Qing Dynasty, silver ingots began to transform into silver dollars. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty, foreign businessmen used their silver dollars to buy China's silk, tea and porcelain in foreign trade, which made all kinds of foreign silver dollars popular in China. During the light years of the Qing Dynasty, since the unequal treaty of nanking was signed, the silver dollar used for compensation was "foreign money", and there was no silver dollar in China at that time. The shortage of foreign currency in stock offset the sharp increase in foreign compensation, forcing the government to start casting silver dollars by itself in the late Qing Dynasty. The earliest foreign-style silver dollar mechanism in China was the Guangxu Yuanbao, commonly known as Yang Long, which was named after the dragon pattern on the back of the silver dollar. At the same time, there is also a mechanism copper coin, also called "copper coin". The appearance of machine-made silver coins and copper coins is a great impact on the traditional silver and copper coin system in China, which is dominated by square holes and circles.

The types of banknotes issued in Qing Dynasty are complex, including official banknotes and private banknotes. Official banknotes are issued by government financial institutions, while private banknotes are issued by private financial institutions. Paper money is divided into four types: copper coin (convertible square hole copper coin), copper coin (convertible copper coin), silver coin (convertible silver) and silver coin (convertible silver dollar). At the beginning of issuing paper money, there were bank reserves and paper money coupons.

To sum up, from the Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the emergence and circulation of paper money, the increasing status of silver currency, the establishment of the silver-based paper money system in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the emergence of the mechanism currency system in the late Qing Dynasty were the second stage of the development of Chinese currency history.

The above list is the history of circulating coins, and there are many non-circulating currencies in the coin industry, such as winning money to suppress evil spirits, tomb money to pray for evil spirits, and commemorative coins to commemorate major historical events and outstanding historical figures. These coins, commonly known as "spending money", are insignificant in currency circulation, but they can provide valuable historical materials for folk custom research.

The history of coins

Chinese ancient coins sprouted in the Xia Dynasty, originated in the Shang Dynasty, developed in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and unified in winning the Qin Dynasty. In the long history of more than 4000 years, they have created more than 70 best in the world. Moreover, China's coin system is complete, its categories are rich, its context is long and its connotation is broad, which is unmatched by any country.

The world's earliest paper money, the world's earliest low-priced "Jiaozi" appeared in the Song Dynasty, but both the physical and paper money versions of the "Jiaozi" have been lost. At present, the earliest "Jin Dynasty Copper Coin Edition" found in China has been collected by Jin Quan Coin Museum.

The earliest coins

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the rapid development of commodity economy, ancient coins of various shapes began to appear, mostly imitating the production tools or household appliances at that time.

Member Rong of Anjinquan Coin Museum of Chinese Coin Society: Like Chu State, it developed from a coin shell to a character shell, commonly known as face money and ant nose money. In the Central Plains and agricultural areas, it evolved from a labor tool-a farm tool shovel. In coastal and northern areas and fishing and hunting areas, it evolved into a knife coin according to its fishing and hunting tool-a knife.

This product is called Wuyang three-hole cloth. Why is it called three-hole cloth? Because it has three small holes. Do you see three small holes on it? The place name is Wuyang, followed by one or two. There are two grades of three-hole cloth, one is twelve baht and the other is one or two baht.

the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

After Qin Shihuang annexed the six countries, in order to consolidate the feudal rule, develop the feudal economy, and unify the coin policy, it was a monetary reform in China's history to promote half a penny in the outer circle. This kind of copper coin avoids the disadvantages of Qian Wen, such as complexity, indistinguishability, different sizes, different weights and unclear currency value. , and formulated the weight and shape to meet the needs. As a milestone in the history of coin development in China, the half-taels of money marked that the shape of the coin with the outer circle and the inner side was shaped from then on, and it was used by all dynasties until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The appearance of Kaiyuan Bao Tong Coin marks the second coin revolution of China coins since Qin Shihuang unified the currency, which has been popular for 1300 years.

Qin Shihuang annexed six countries.

Commercial activities flourished in the Han dynasty, and the coin system also underwent major reforms. In the fifth year of founding ceremony, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, namely 1 18 BC, he began to cast five baht coins. The weight of money is appropriate, and its size and shape have been used until the Sui Dynasty.

Member of the Anjinquan Coin Museum of the Chinese Coin Society Rong: From the fourth year of Wude, that is, 62 1 year, we began to cast Kaiyuan coins, that is, we abolished the two systems of Thai baht. Then, the historical significance of Kaiyuan Bao Tong is enormous. First, the two-system monetary system was abolished and began to appear. Bowen's currency has the concept of credit currency.

Han Dynasty-Sui Dynasty

Copper coins and iron coins were used together in the Song Dynasty, and a considerable amount of money was cast. More than a dozen emperors have forty or fifty kinds of money every year. Xichun Bao Tong, cast in the seventh year of Xichun in the Southern Song Dynasty, has the word "Qi" on the back, which was changed to lowercase nine years later. This is called chronological money. This coin chronology system was used until the end of the Song Dynasty, which was a major feature of the currency in the Song Dynasty, more than 300 years earlier than the European coin chronology.

China's Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty mainly promoted paper money, and less copper coins were cast.

Song Yuanming

After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, silver became the main currency, and copper coins were only used for small payments, but they were still the focus of government issuance. During Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, absorbed the advanced technology of western coinage, bought a coinage machine from England, set up a mint in Guangzhou, took the lead in creating machine coinage, and implemented the third revolution in the history of coins in China. Advanced coinage technology was successful in the late Guangxu period. Since then, the mechanism currency has fully entered the monetary field of our country.

The ancient coins of various periods in China have stood the test of 4000 years' ups and downs, with a long history, dazzling array, various shapes and varieties, creating more than 70 world's best, which is unmatched by any country in the world.

Coins can be said to be the epitome of a country's historical development. Chinese ancient coins have gradually formed a unique cultural system of oriental coins in its long development process, so their value has been discovered by more and more people, and ancient coins have also been collected by more and more people.

Coin is not only a means of commodity exchange, but also a special cultural carrier. It is a special commodity, an exquisite work of art, and a reflection of the political, economic, cultural and artistic conditions of different countries in different periods. Take coins in China as an example. The change of money has condensed the historical process of thousands of years, from coins and cloth thousands of years ago to paper money with exquisite printing and advanced counterfeiting technology today, and then to electronic money with "one card taking the world".

[Edit this paragraph] The value appraisal of ancient coins needs "four views"

Look at the historical value. Rare ancient coins are the physical objects of currency history and also the witness of history. Therefore, it is necessary to find out its position in history before collecting it. For example, "Chengdu Jiaozi" and "Ten-text Series Yuanbao Jiaochao" are the earliest banknotes discovered in China so far, which are regarded as priceless by academic circles; Jilin's "Guangping Silver Coin" is considered to be the first machine-made coin in China. The "Cheng 'an Treasure" unearthed in Acheng County, Heilongjiang Province1August, 985 is a rare "one-half-white silver coin" product in China. Coins made in short-lived dynasties or peasant uprisings are rare treasures because of their short circulation time and small circulation.

Second, look at the existing quantity. Knife coins of Qi, Yan and Zhao, cloth coins of Korea, Wei and Qin, etc. Very old, rarer and more expensive than round currency. There are not many coins in the world, such as the "Deyi Yuanbao" cast after Shi Siming, a rebel in the Tang Dynasty, occupied Luoyang. Later, it was found that the word "Deyi" was unlucky, so it was changed to "Shuntian" and cast "Shuntian Bao Tong". These two kinds of coins are rarely passed down from generation to generation, especially the "Deyi Yuanbao", which is a rare treasure.

Third, look at cultural values. Some categories handed down from generation to generation are favored mainly because of their high cultural taste and artistic value. For example, coins such as "fire circle" and "cloth circle" in Wang Mang's new dynasty in Han Dynasty used vertical needle seals; All Bao Tong, a ten-fold seal script written by Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty, is the earliest artistic word in China and a masterpiece.

Fourth, look at the appearance No matter whether the coins are rare or not, we should try to avoid those with vague faces, defective outlines, serious corrosion and poor faces. When collecting ancient coins, we should also pay attention to whether there are signs such as moon patterns and star patterns. The identification of ancient coins is to distinguish the casting age and address through the words on the back and evaluate their rarity. Generally speaking, coins marked with the moon and stars on the back are more collectible than those with smooth back. Among the coins worth collecting, the palace coins refined from gold, silver and copper are precious cultural relics, with little casting and good quality.