User:Donald Trung/Vault protector coin (鎮庫錢)/Qing Dynasty



This page serves as "the editing history" of the English Wikipedia article "Qing dynasty coinage" and is preserved for attribution.
 * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/935870321 . ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 07:43, 15 January 2020 (UTC).

Vault protector coins of the Qing dynasty


Vault protector coins were produced for a period of over a thousand years starting in the country of Southern Tang during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and were produced until the Qing dynasty. Speculations exist that claim that vault protector coins might even predate this era by another millennium. These non-circulating coins were typically cast to commemorate the opening of new furnaces for casting cash coins.

These coins were significantly larger, heavier and thicker than regular cash coins and were well-made as they were designed to occupy a special place within the treasury of the mint. The treasury had a spirit hall for offerings to the gods of the Chinese pantheon, and Vault Protector coins would be hung with red silk and tassels for the Chinese God of Wealth. These coins were believed to have charm-like magical powers that would protect the vault while bringing wealth and fortune to the treasury.

Shunzhi era
Following the Manchu takeover of Beijing in 1644, the Qing dynasty established new mints in the city. Almost immediately did the Qing start imitating Ming dynasty coinage, including vault protector coins. Two central government mints were opened in Beijing and they began to cast the Shunzhi Tongbao (順治通寶) cash coins closely modeled after the cash coins of the preceding Ming dynasty. A special Shunzhi Tongbao vault protector coin was cast that was 6 centimeters in diameter and contained the Manchu reverse inscription "Boo Yuwan". Another variant of this vault protector coin exists which has the Chinese character "工" on the right side next to its square centre hole on its reverse side.

Xianfeng era
The Leizhou City Museum (雷州市博物館) in the city of Leizhou, Guangdong and the Palace Museum in Beijing both own a Qing dynasty era Xianfeng Tongbao (咸豐通寶) vault protector coin. The reverse inscription of this vault protector coin reads Da-Qing Zhenku (大清鎮庫, which could be translated into English as "Vault Protector of the Qing dynasty"). These coins have a diameter of 14 centimeters. The square centre hole is 2.5 centimeters in diameter, the vault protector coin weighs 1.05 kilograms. Only 5 of these vault protector coins were ever produced and during the beginning of the Republic of China, a eunuch had stolen all of them, the aforementioned two cash coins remained in China while the eunuch sold the other 3 Xianfeng Tongbao vault protector coins for what was purported to be "a large amount of money" to a British man. A description of this vault protector coin also appears in the book "Zhongguo Guqian Daji" (中國古錢大集) written by Hua Guangpu (華光普), where it is valued as being worth 1.200.000 yuan. The Leizhou City Museum came in possession of this coin during the 1950s, prior to this it was privately owned. During the Xianfeng era another type of vault protector coins was cast by the Ministry of Public Works with the obverse inscription Baoyuan Juzao (寶源局造, which could be translated as "made by the Ministry of Public Works"). The reverse inscription of the this coin reads Zhenku (鎮庫, "vault protector coin"). This vault protector coin is very large in its size and has a diameter of 11.52 centimeters, its square centre hole is 1.8 centimeters in diameter, and it has a weight of 837.3 grams. In 1936 Arthur B. Coole (邱文明) claimed that only four of five of these vault protector coins were ever produced by the Ministry of Public Works Mint in Beijing. Chinese numismatist Ma Dingxiang (馬定祥), in his book "The coins of Xianfeng" (咸豐泉匯), claims that the style of this vault protector coin is consistent to the styles of other Xianfeng era cash coinages. Furthermore, Ma Dingxiang claims that there exists only a single other specimen of a "companion vault protector coin" that was produced simultaneously by the Ministry of Revenue Mint in Beijing. In 2009 a Baoyuan Juzao vault protector coin was sold at an auction in Tokyo, Japan. This same coin was sold at auction in the year 2013 for $408,279 (RMB 2,530,000). At the time of this auction, this sale had broken the record for the highest amount of money that was ever paid for a Qing dynasty era coin.

Qixiang / Tongzhi era
After the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, his son was crowned the Qixiang Emperor, however, after only one month his reign title was changed to the Tongzhi Emperor. Because if this only a very small number of cash coins using the Qixiang inscription was used, to commemorate the new emperor a Qixiang Zhongbao (祺祥重寶) vault protector coin were made, this coin does not have any characteristics that indicate which mint had produced it. The reverse of the Qixiang Zhongbao vault protector coin contains the inscription Da-Qing Zhenku (大清鎮庫). This coin had a diameter of 10.1 centimeters and a thickness of 0.47 centimeters.

A Qixiang Zhongbao vault protector coin was sold at an auction in Hong Kong in the year 2013 for $745,755 (HK$5,750,000).

Guangxu era
Under the Guangxu Emperor a bronze vault protector coin with the obverse inscription Guangxu Tongbao (光緒通寶) and the reverse side contains the Manchu inscription "Boo Yuwan". This vault protector coin has a diameter of 6.2 centimeters and a thickness of 1 centimeter.

A Guangxu Tongbao vault protector coin was sold at an auction in the year 2010 for $51,485 (RMB 319,200).

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 * January 2020.




 * December 2019.



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