The Only Gold Coinage of Ancient China

Triton XIX, Lot: 2278. Estimate $15000. Sold for $25000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CHINA, Eastern Zhou dynasty - Warring States Period. State of Chǔ. City of Yǐng. 4th-3rd century BC. AV Jin Yuan (43x32mm, 57.33 g). Ying Yuan in early zhuànshū Hànzì (seal script) characters within square stamped six times on irregular gold bar. Adams, “Gold Cube Money of Ancient China,” in SAN XIX.1, p. 8 and cover (this coin); BN Chinoises I – (but cf. p. 146-52 for discussion); cf. Yü-Ch'üan pl. LI, 1-3; cf. Shanghai I 1404-1446; cf. Hartill 5.3. Near EF. Very rare.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Spink-Taisei 13 (3 September 1992), lot 39.

Chinese coinage of the tumultuous Warring States Period took a number of forms. Spades and knives of various shapes and sizes, round coins with square or round holes, and ‘ant nose’ bronzes were all seen in the market places. The State of Chǔ was home to one of the most interesting coin types in Chinese history – the Jin Yuan, a currency composed of small gold ingots stamped with a number of squares. These gold pieces were reported in historical and numismatic texts as early as AD 1050, but the characters were not correctly read until 1878, when they were finally assigned to Chǔ. 

The coins consist of a flat, cast piece of gold stamped multiple times with two characters contained in a square. Smaller “denominations” could have been procured by chopping up larger Jin Yuan. The smaller pieces do not appear to maintain any single weight standard, suggesting that they were weighed at each transaction.