Item number: A1617

Year: AD 1308-1311

Material: Bronze

Size: 24.1 x 24.0 x 1.1 mm

Weight: 3.25 g

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2014

This is a “Zhida Tongbao” coin minted during the reign of Emperor Yuan Wu Zong, Hai Shan, the third emperor of the Yuan Dynasty following Kublai Khan’s establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in China. The coin was struck using his era name, Zhida.

The coin follows the typical square-holed format. On the obverse, the four characters “至大通寶” (Zhi Da Tong Bao) are inscribed in regular script in the order of top, bottom, right, and left. The reverse side is plain, without any inscriptions or designs.

Before the Mongols established their rule over the Central Plains, they first encountered societies and states using silver as currency during their conquests of Central Asia, the Western Xia, and the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, after founding the Yuan Dynasty, the primary forms of currency in circulation were silver and paper money, which marked a shift from the earlier reliance on copper coins in previous Han Chinese dynasties. However, during the reign of Emperor Yuan Wuzong, the court minted copper coins such as the Zhida Tongbao to counteract the inflation caused by the excessive printing of paper money.

物件編號: A1617

年代: 公元 1308-1311 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 24.1 x 24.0 x 1.1 mm

重量: 3.25 g

來源: 大城郵幣社 2014

這是忽必烈在漢地建立元朝以來，元朝第三任皇帝元武宗海山在位期間，以其年號鑄造的「至大通寶」。

錢幣形制為典型的方孔錢，錢幣正面以楷書按照上、下、右、左順序，依序鐫刻漢字「至大通寶」。錢幣背面為光背，沒有任何文字或是圖案。

蒙古人在入主中原以前，於征服中亞、西夏和金朝的過程中，首先接觸到的都是使用白銀作為貨幣的人群或國家。因此蒙古人創立元朝之後，其主要流通的貨幣形式為白銀或紙鈔，相較於先前的漢人朝代對於銅錢的依賴程度較少。不過在元武宗統治年間，朝廷鑄造以至大通寶為代表的銅錢，希望能以此減緩濫印紙鈔造成的通貨膨脹。