Chapter 1,738 Buddha carries gold coins on his back
In the late Shang Dynasty, bronze shells also appeared.
In the West, the Lydians of Asia Minor are considered the inventors of metal coinage.
The copper shells of the Shang Dynasty are hundreds of years earlier than the coins of the Lydians, and can be called the earliest metal coins of mankind.
As currency, copper shells have durability and value balance that are more suitable for circulation.
The unwritten copper shells cast in bronze do not deviate from the original shell shape and are divided into two types: hollow and solid.
A groove is created on the ventral surface imitating a shell, which can be divided into two types: straight teeth or curved teeth, and the tooth pattern is vaguely visible.
The back is raised and not decorated with patterns.
Some have a small hole cut into them to facilitate threading several shells together.
As for the shell coins of the Shang Dynasty, although nearly 7,000 natural sea shells were unearthed from Fuhao's tomb in Yinxu, Anyang, the current value of these natural sea shells is not very high, but they are not very popular in the collection market. Common.
Copper shells from the Shang and Zhou dynasties are currently difficult to come across in the collection market.
The ones Chen Wenzhe saw were naturally fakes, and there were really many gold coins in that period of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, gold-coated shells appeared, which were coated with a very thin layer of gold foil on the surface of copper shells. They were not only beautiful, but also added value.
It turns out that Chen Wenzhe bought a whole set from this prodigal son of Xiaohai City, and that time, what I saw was a lot of gold coins.
The "Chu Xiaoguan Zhongzhong" unearthed from the tomb of Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan in Beihe Mancheng, has a very mature gilding technology.
The entire first-plate gold coin is still very common, so it’s no wonder that these tomb robbers are willing to sell it.
There were many gold coins in the Song Dynasty, but fewer gold, silver and copper coins that had no collection value.
The Chunhua Yuanbao Eight-Style Book is also known as the "Eight-Style Coin Collection".
Therefore, gilt shells have a certain status and mystery in the minds of many collectors, and their collection value is self-evident.
The "Chunhua Yuanbao" written in the lower part of the book is all written in a convolutional style, divided into eight calligraphy styles: Li, Xing and Cao, all of which are imperial pens.
Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, the ancients had mastered this craft during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
A long time ago, imitation products appeared in Hong Kong and the mainland.
This process is also known as fire gold plating, gold coating, gold plating, gold plating, flowing gold, etc.
There is too much money circulating now, and there are very few fakes!
Therefore, many experts and scholars believe that the initial time of gilding technology should be set at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period or the early Warring States Period.
After all, it is gold. Even if you are afraid of being discovered to be an ancient coin, you cannot melt it and make it into special gold bars.
Below the perforation is the main Buddha "Vairoche Buddha", sitting in lotus position under the lotus throne, applying the "Dharma Seal".
For example, "Chunhua Yuanbao", "Yu implies the official meaning, the writing is steady, vigorous and dignified, and the writing power is implicit."
There is another kind of official script. The eight o'clock points next to the word "Chun" and "Shui" are clustered downward. Therefore, the numismatic circles call it "Shrunk Chunhua", and its casting quantity is extremely large.
Over the past ten years, Chunhua's money has been floating around in the sea.
For example, among the cultural relics unearthed from the Chu tomb in Changtai, Xinyang, the shapes of "ding" and gilt copper belt hooks do not have the style characteristics of the early Warring States period.
The strokes, the seven-body cursive stipples are flying, the brush strokes are like dragons and snakes, smooth and graceful, relaxed and relaxed, like a galloping horse, elegance and style of the Jin and Song Dynasties.
Those who can own bronze products are a symbol of power and wealth.
According to historical records, when that kind of iron money was minted, it was only one year old.
Let’s talk about this kind of gold coins on the back of the Buddha. In the spring of 1988, more than 2,000 of them were discovered in the Qitai Mountain temple tower.
In 2020, the winner in the coin auction was a "Chunhua Yuanbao" carrying "Eight Buddhas" gold offering money.
Chu gold coins are the earliest gold coins in your country. They are cut and weighed when used, so the ones found now are basically broken!
It would be a great honor for a minister to receive the copper shell as a reward.
Not much money has been scattered yet, and it is said that the things in the hands of collectors and spring merchants in the end are all suspected to be handicrafts.
In the spring of 1988, a construction team in Fuping County, which was undergoing renovation work at the Yanjiao Temple on the top of Qitai Mountain, unearthed several batches of Chunhua Yuanbao money on the base of the tower.
That's because the casting process is too expensive, so the amount of money in Chunhua Yuanbao is extremely large. It is one of the folk coins and is particularly worthy of your attention.
Chunhua Yuanbao is a Northern Song Dynasty coin that was minted in the first year of Chunhua (AD 990) by Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty. It has eight types of gold, copper and iron.
By the time the news of Qitai's discovery spread, the tiny amount of money on the market had not yet been captured by the prophets.
That kind of gold coin has a diameter of about 24 millimeters and a weight of about 12 grams.
Although the gilt copper shells treated in this way have gone through many vicissitudes of life and have not peeled off in some places on the surface, they still look luxurious and bright, making people love and put them down.
They think that the bad statues in China are not all found in one place. Even if Cheng Ningrui checks the collection of a group of tomb robbers, he can still find a small batch, so he thinks that there are very few of them.
The seventh most common gold coin, if not Chu gold coins.
It is a shedding technique that does not apply gold amalgam, which is composed of gold and mercury, on the surface of the copperware, and then evaporates the mercury before cooling it so that the gold can firmly adhere to the surface of the copperware.
For gilt shells, the specific production steps are to cast the copper shells and then gilt the entire inner layer of the copper shells.
Gilding is a metal processing technology created by ancient working people in production labor.
There are eight Buddha statues cast on the back of the coin. Judging from their sitting postures, it is inferred that they are the Eight Saints of Huayan, also known as the Eight Buddhas of Sakyamuni.
The ten-fold iron coin was cast by Zhao Anyi, the minister of Zongzheng in the seventh year of Chunhua, in the states along the Sichuan-Shaanxi Road.
It cannot be said that storing those gold coins cannot be done with both hands, so why bother?
This is the gilt shell coin of the Warring States Period, the very conspicuous ancient gold coin that Chen Wenzhe first saw.
Because bronze at that time was still regarded as the finest material.
The overall picture constitutes a picture of "Manjushri and the Seven Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas assisting Sakyamuni Buddha in preaching scriptures". During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it seems that the gilding technology was still mastered.
The coin is as small as a large flat coin, with a figure on the right and left under the back.
Except for those two kinds of gold coins, none of them were very famous in the Song Dynasty, but the most common gold coins were not the Chunhua Yuanbao-backed Golden Buddha that Cheng Ningrui got later.
It can also be divided into Daping, which can be divided into ten taels and other coins.
Gilt shellfish are rarely traded in the market because they are rare and seldom come to the market, so collectors who have been playing with coins for many years have never seen the real thing.
The Chunhua Yuanbao gold coin with a Buddha statue on its back was found in Qitai Mountain of Xishan Mountain. It was used as a royal offering in the Chunhua Year and has been widely circulated.
Looking at his Qian Wen, you can see in particular the slender young man, who dances charmingly, plump and energetic, giving people a beautiful enjoyment and memorable aftertaste.
In fact, compared to other gold coins, Chu gold coins are really rare.
The Buddha statues on the right and left of the entrance are "Manjushri" and the seven Bodhisattvas "Samantabhadra".
At that time, they were all snatched up by those present, and a total of 1343 (someone said 1341) coins were recovered beforehand.
This coin has the inscription "Chunhua Yuan Bao" on the face, and the inscription "四" on the top of the inner corner of the front.