Item number: A1718

Year: AD 766-779

Material: Bronze

Size: 23.2 x 23.7 x 1.6 mm

Weight: 3.4 g

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2014

This is a “Dali Yuanbao” coin minted during the Dali era (AD 766–779) of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty. It was locally cast and circulated by the Anxi Protectorate, which had been cut off from direct contact with the central Tang court after falling under Tibetan control in present-day Xinjiang.

The coin has the typical square-holed shape. On the obverse, the four characters “大曆元寶” are inscribed in a clockwise sequence. The reverse is blank, with no inscriptions or decorative elements.

Due to the fact that official Tang Dynasty coins typically featured inscriptions in the order of top, bottom, right, and left, and there were no official records of the “Dali Yuanbao” coin in Tang Dynasty literature, scholars long believed it to be a privately minted coin. However, with the discovery of more physical specimens and a comparison with historical texts, scholars have now confirmed that the “Dali Yuanbao” was minted by the Tang garrison stationed in the Western Regions, which had been cut off from the central court.

In AD 755, the An Lushan Rebellion broke out, and in order to quell the uprising, the Tang Dynasty requisitioned military forces from various regional military governors. As elite troops stationed in the Western Regions and the Hexi Corridor were redeployed, in AD 760, the Tibetan forces seized the opportunity to occupy the Hexi Corridor and severed the communication between the Tang-controlled Protectorates of Beiting and Anxi in the Western Regions and the central court. In AD 781, envoys sent by Li Yuanzhong and Guo Xin, who governed Beiting and Anxi, succeeded in reestablishing contact with Chang’an. However, in AD 790, after the Beiting Protectorate was captured by the Tibetans, only the Anxi Protectorate, based in Turpan, remained under Tang control. According to scholarly analysis and historical comparisons, the Tang forces in Turpan likely held out until AD 792, when they were eventually defeated by the Tibetans, marking the end of Tang control over the Western Regions.

物件編號: A1718

年代: 公元 766-779 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 23.2 x 23.7 x 1.6 mm

重量: 3.4 g

來源: 大城郵幣社 2014

這是一枚唐代宗大曆年間 (公元766至779)，唐朝設置於今新疆一帶的安西都護府遭到吐蕃切斷與中原朝廷的聯繫後，自行在當地鑄造和發行的「大曆元寶」。

錢幣形制為典型的方孔錢，正面按照順時針的順序，依序以漢字標示「大曆元寶」四字。錢幣背面則是光背，沒有任何文字或圖案。

由於唐代官方鑄造的錢幣，銘文順序為上、下、右、左，加上唐代文獻沒有關於此錢幣的官方紀錄。因此在過去很長一段時間，學者認為大曆元寶是民間私自鑄造的錢幣。不過隨著更多的實物出土和文獻的比照，學界目前確認大曆元寶是滯留於西域的唐朝守軍鑄造的錢幣。

公元755年，安史之亂爆發之後，唐朝為了弭平叛亂向各地的節度使徵調軍力。駐守於西域和河西走廊的唐軍精銳調離之際，公元760年，吐蕃趁勢佔領河西走廊並切斷位於西域的北庭和安西兩個都護府跟中央的聯繫。公元781年，主政北庭和安西都護府的李元忠和郭昕派遣的使者成功和長安恢復聯繫。但是公元790年，北庭都護府遭到吐蕃攻陷後，僅剩以吐魯番為據點的安西都護府仍在唐軍的手上。根據學者比對文獻後的推論，吐魯番的唐軍大概堅持到公元792年方才遭到吐蕃消滅，自此唐朝的勢力退出西域地區。