Objekt 8120
China
Description
Cowrie, knife money and cash coins
The early development of statehood in China facilitated the introduction of pre-monetary forms of currency based on items of value such as bronze knives, spades and cowrie shells. Between the 1st and 7th centuries AD the first so-called «cash» coins were cast, one of their typical features being a square hole in the middle. Besides silver ingots, cash coins provided the bulk of the coinage until the end of the imperial age (1911); later, they were kept on as talismans.
Object description
upper level, on the left:
Development leading to the Cash coin
China. Zhou dynasty, three real cowry and one clay cowry, early knife money, 10th to 3rd cent. BC
Zhou and Han dynasties, banliang coin, 3rd to 2nd cent. BC; Emperor Wang Mang, late knife money and wuzhu coin, 9–24 A.D.
Inv. 2009.641.1.-3., 2009.183., 2011.625., 2011.607.-608., 2011.627. (loans MKB, inv. II d 3943, 11215.01, 11251.03, 11253.02, 5368), inv. 2008.379.1-2.
lower level:
Coin sword and good luck coin
China. cash coin sword and coin of good luck, 19th to 20th cent.
Inv. 2011.612., 2011.626. (loans MKB, inv. II d 2949, II d 5368)