Item number: A389-5

Year: AD 1902-1906

Material: Copper

Size: 27.6 x 27.6 x 1.8 mm

Weight: 7.6 g

Manufactured by: Hunan, Changsha

Provenance:

1. Noonans 2022

2. D. L. F. Sealy Collection

This is a coin minted by the province of Hunan in the 28th year of the Guangxu reign (AD 1902), following an imperial decree permitting provinces to emulate the experiences of Guangdong and Fujian. It bears the inscription “Guangxu Yuanbao” and has a denomination of “Ten Cash.”

The obverse of the coin features two beaded borders, with a central motif depicting a five-clawed coiled dragon exhaling a fireball. As Hunan province had three minting facilities, each producing copper coins with slight variations, this coin belongs to the “short whisker dragon” version. On both sides of the outer border, there are floral decorations with six petals each, with the upper and lower petals resembling water droplets.

The inscription “HU-NAN” in Wade-Giles romanisation appears at the top, while the denomination “TEN CASH” is written in English at the bottom.

The reverse side of the coin also features two beaded borders. Inside, there are the regular script Chinese characters “Guangxu Yuanbao,” and in the centre, running from left to right, are the Manchu characters “Bao Nan.” On the outer border’s left and right sides are the denomination “Ten Cash,” while the top and bottom edges respectively bear the inscriptions “Minted by Hunan Province” and “Copper Coin” in Chinese.

In the 28th year of the Guangxu reign (AD 1902), Hunan Province imported machinery from England and installed it in the provincial capital, Changsha, marking the beginning of its mechanical coinage history. According to reports left by the British Consulate in China, Changsha had three units responsible for minting Ten-cash copper coins: “The General Copper Coin Mint,” “The Branch Mint,” and “The Copper Coin Mint,” resulting in a wide variety of varieties. Subsequently, there were attempts to mint copper coins in denominations of Two, Five, and Twenty Cash.

However, in the 32nd year of Guangxu’s reign (AD 1906), the oversupply of machine-struck copper coins in various provinces led to a decrease in their prices. To control the economy and regain control over coinage rights from local authorities, the imperial court ordered all provinces to cease the minting of copper coins. The three mints in Hunan Province were all instructed to halt production, and their operations were centralised under the management of Hubei Province.

物件編號: A389-5

年代: 公元 1902-1906 年

材料: 紅銅

尺寸: 27.6 x 27.6 x 1.8 mm

重量: 7.6 g

製造地: 湖南, 長沙

來源:

1. 諾南斯 2022

2. 大衛.萊斯利.福布斯.西利舊藏

這是一枚光緒28年(公元1902年)，朝廷上諭允許各省仿效廣東和福建經驗後，湖南省自行鑄造之「光緒元寶」機鑄銅元，其面額為「十文」。

錢幣正面有兩道珠圈，中央是一隻口吐火球的五爪蟠龍，由於湖南一省便存在三座造幣廠，每一家生產的銅元樣式有些許差異，該物件為「短鬚龍」版本。外圍左右兩側各有一個六辦花飾，其中上下兩瓣的花瓣為水滴狀。上緣是威妥瑪拼音的「湖南」(HU-NAN)，下緣則是英文面額「十文」(TEN CASH)。

錢幣背面亦有兩道珠圈，裡面是楷書漢字「光緒元寶」，正中央按左至右是滿文「寶南」兩字。外圍的左右兩側為面額「當十」，上緣和下緣則分別是「湖南省造」和「銅元」字樣。

光緒28年(公元1902年)，湖南省從英國引進機器安裝於省會長沙，開啟其機械鑄幣的歷史。根據英國駐華領事館留下的報告，長沙有「銅元總局」、「銅元分局」和「銅元局」三個單位負責鑄造十文銅元，因此其版別十分繁多。後續尚有嘗試鑄造「二文、五文和二十文」三種面額的銅元。

不過在光緒32年(公元1906年)，由於各省的機鑄銅元供過於求，導致其價格下跌。朝廷為控制經濟和收回地方鑄幣權，下令各省停止鑄造銅元。湖南省三座造幣廠皆被勒令停工，其業務交由湖北省統籌處理。