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China – Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.)
Bronze Kai Yuan Tong Bao Cash 25mm, Struck 713-732 AD (Middle Type)
Reference: H# 14.3a
開元通寶, Four Chinese characters, square hole within..
Square hole in center, crescent.
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The Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寶; 开元通宝; lit. ‘Circulating treasure from the inauguration of a new epoch’), sometimes romanised as Kai Yuan Tong Bao or using the archaic Wade-Giles spelling K’ai Yuan T’ung Pao, was a Tang dynasty cash coin that was produced from 621 under the reign of Emperor Gaozu and remained in production for most of the Tang dynasty until 907. The Kaiyuan Tongbao was notably the first cash coin to use the inscription tōng bǎo (通寶) and an era title as opposed to have an inscription based on the weight of the coin as was the case with Ban Liang, Wu Zhu and many other earlier types of Chinese cash coins. The Kaiyuan Tongbao’s calligraphy and inscription inspired subsequent Central Asian, Japanese, Korean, Ryūkyūan, and Vietnamese cash coins and became the standard until the last cash coin to use the inscription “通寶” was cast until the early 1940s in French Indochina.
After the fall of the Tang dynasty Kaiyuan Tongbao coins would continue to be produced by various states of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
Under the Tang dynasty the earlier Wu Zhu coins of the Sui dynasty would remain the standard currency, but during the fourth year of the Wu De (武德) period (or 621 of the Gregorian calendar) Emperor Gaozu decreed that the Kaiyuan Tongbao coin be cast with a strictly enforced standard weight of 1⁄10 Liǎng (兩).
Unlike earlier Chinese cash coins which had their legends based on their weight, the Kaiyuan Tongbao was notably the first Chinese cash coin to use the tōng bǎo (通寶) inscription and simultaneously inspired the yuán bǎo (元寶) inscription. The reason that the Kaiyuan Tongbao also inspired the yuán bǎo legend is because the Chinese people themselves had trouble figuring out the correct character order, as the inscription is read in what was referred to as the “standard order” (top-bottom-right-left) some people accidentally read it in the wrong order as they had assumed that the inscription was read clockwise as Kaitong Yuanbao (開通元寶), this was also because rather than having the first two characters spell out the period title (which was Wu De when the Kaiyuan Tongbao was introduced), they had a different inscription. However this mistake in how the legend was read inspired the Northwest Chinese rebel Shi Siming to cast his own cash coins with the inscription Shuntian Yuanbao (順天元寶, shùn tiān yuán bǎo) cash coins first issued in Luoyang in 759, this coin however does have a clockwise inscription. Another term that was used to denote “the currency type” in Chinese coin inscriptions was zhòng bǎo (重寶) which could be translated as “heavy currency”. The first cash coin to have this inscription was the Qianyuan Zhongbao (乾元重寶) which was first produced in the year 759. The terms yuán bǎo (元寶) and zhòng bǎo (重寶) which were both established during a 138 year period of the Tang dynasty would continue to be used on Chinese coins to the very end of the Qing dynasty in 1911. While the term tōng bǎo (通寶) was even used longer with the last Chinese cash coin, the Minguo Tongbao (民國通寶) being produced in Dongchuan, Yunnan during the early Republic of China period.
Another important difference with the inscription of the Kaiyuan Tongbao compared to earlier Chinese cash coins was that it was not written in seal script but rather in the more plain calligraphic clerical script. The Emperor ask one of China’s most well-known calligraphers, Ouyang Xun to write down the legend of the cash coin. This was also the first time in Chinese history that a famous calligrapher wrote the characters for a Chinese cash coin. Minting and copper extraction were centrally controlled, and private casting was punishable by death. For the first time we find regulations giving the prescribed coinage alloy: 83% copper, 15% lead, and 2% tin. Previously the percentages used seem to have been on an ad hoc basis. Actual analyses show rather less copper than this.
At first, mints were set up in Luoyang in Henan, and also in Peking, Chengdu, Bingzhou (Taiyuan in Shanxi), and then Guilin in Guangxi. Minting rights were also granted to some princes and officials. By 660, deterioration of the coinage due to forgery had become a problem. The regulations were reaffirmed in 718, and forgeries suppressed. In 737, the first commissioner with overall responsibility for casting was appointed. 1 furnace that produced 3.3 million Kaiyuan Tongbao coins a year during the Tian Bao period between 713 and 756 would need 21220 jin of copper, 3709 jin of tin, and 540 jin per regulation of lead and had an average waste of 23,5 %. The Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins produced during the Tian Bao period had an officially set copper alloy however some Kaiyuan coins from this period were blue or white it’s likely that other alloys were also used. In 739, ten mints were recorded, with a total of 89 furnaces casting some 327,000 strings of cash a year. 123 liang of metal were needed to produce a string of coins weighing 100 liang. In the late 740s, skilled artisans were employed for casting, rather than conscripted peasants. Despite these measures, the coinage continued to deteriorate. In 808, a ban on hoarding coins was proclaimed. This was repeated in 817. Regardless of the rank of a person, they could not hold more than 5,000 strings of cash. Cash balances exceeding this amount had to be expended within two months to purchase goods. This was an attempt to compensate for the lack of cash in circulation. By 834, mint output had fallen to 100,000 strings a year, mainly due to the shortage of copper. Forgeries using lead and tin alloys were produced.
Due to the fact that this continued to be produced for two centuries by various mints all over China there are several hundred varieties of the Kaiyuan Tongbao that can be distinguished from each other due to slight differences.
The Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins that were first cast until the height of the Tang period, early issues can be very accurately assigned to their time of casting and archeological evidence from Tang era tombs indeed prove that the first stroke of the character “元” are shorter than later versions, for this reason these coins are referred to as “short one yuan” (短一元, duǎn yī yuán) versions. A lesser quantity of these early Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins are made from what the Chinese call “white copper” (白銅, bái tóng) and are subsequently referred to as “White Copper/Baitong Kaiyuan Tongbao coins” (白銅開元通寶, báitóng kāiyuán tōng bǎo) today, however during the Tang dynasty itself they were given the nickname “pure coins” (青錢, qīng qián) which also became the basis for the nickname (外號) of “pure coin scholar” (青錢學士, qīng qián xué shì) which was given to Emperor Gaozong as his writings were said to resemble the coins.
There also exist Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins which are differentiated by their second horizontal stroke, other than the first variant these others quite rare. The following versions of the Kaiyuan Tongbao coin can be distinguished by the “元” character’s second horizontal stroke (or “shoulder”):
Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins also commonly have differentiating features on their reverse, these can include crescents which according to legend happened when either Empress Zhangsun or Empress Taimu or in some versions of the story Yang Guifei pressed her fingernail into a specimen Kaiyuan Tongbao coin made from wax. Other sources claim that the crescents were added due to foreign influence. Today it is widely believed that these crescents were marks of quality used by various mints.
Other than crescents, there were several Kaiyuan Tongbao coins with other reverse decorations, these include:
Early Kaiyuan Tongbao coins are easily identified due to their deeply cut characters that never touch the rim of the coin, these are called “separate from the rim” Kaiyuan Tongbao coins (simplified Chinese: 隔轮開元通宝; traditional Chinese: 隔輪開元通寶; pinyin: gélún kāiyuán tōng bǎo), while the reverse of these coins tend to have uniform and clear rims. Later variants of the Kaiyuan Tongbao often have excess metal between the strokes of the Hanzi characters and even later variants have characters with strokes so long that they touch the rim, meanwhile the rims on the reverse side of these Kaiyuan Tongbao coins tend to be irregular and relatively flat.
 The Tang dynasty (Chinese: 唐朝) or the Tang Empire was an imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilization, and a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han dynasty. The Tang capital at Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) was the most populous city in the world in its day.
The Lǐ family (李) founded the dynasty, seizing power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire. The dynasty was briefly interrupted when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Second Zhou dynasty (690-705) and becoming the only Chinese empress regnant. In two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records estimated the population by number of registered households at about 50 million people. Yet, even when the central government was breaking down and unable to compile an accurate census of the population in the 9th century, it is estimated that the population had grown by then to about 80 million people.[9][10][b] With its large population base, the dynasty was able to raise professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands of troops to contend with nomadic powers in dominating Inner Asia and the lucrative trade-routes along the Silk Road. Various kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, while the Tang also conquered or subdued several regions which it indirectly controlled through a protectorate system. Besides political hegemony, the Tang also exerted a powerful cultural influence over neighboring East Asian states such as those in Japan and Korea.
The Tang dynasty was largely a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty’s rule, until the An Lushan Rebellion and the decline of central authority in the later half of the dynasty. Like the previous Sui dynasty, the Tang dynasty maintained a civil-service system by recruiting scholar-officials through standardized examinations and recommendations to office. The rise of regional military governors known as jiedushi during the 9th century undermined this civil order. Chinese culture flourished and further matured during the Tang era; it is traditionally considered the greatest age for Chinese poetry. Two of China’s most famous poets, Li Bai and Du Fu, belonged to this age, as did many famous painters such as Han Gan, Zhang Xuan, and Zhou Fang. Scholars of this period compiled a rich variety of historical literature, as well as encyclopedias and geographical works. The adoption of the title Tängri Qaghan by the Tang Emperor Taizong in addition to his title as emperor was eastern Asia’s first “simultaneous kingship”.
Many notable innovations occurred under the Tang, including the development of woodblock printing. Buddhism became a major influence in Chinese culture, with native Chinese sects gaining prominence. However, in the 840s the Emperor Wuzong of Tang enacted policies to persecute Buddhism, which subsequently declined in influence. Although the dynasty and central government had gone into decline by the 9th century, art and culture continued to flourish. The weakened central government largely withdrew from managing the economy, but the country’s mercantile affairs stayed intact and commercial trade continued to thrive regardless. However, agrarian rebellions in the latter half of the 9th century resulted in damaging atrocities such as the Guangzhou massacre of 878-879.
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