Item number: A2058

Year: AD 227-265

Material: Bronze

Size: 21.9 x 22.0 x 0.6 mm

Weight: 1.55 g

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2015

This is a bronze coin known as the “Cao Wei Wu Zhu,” minted from the first year of Taihe to the second year of Xianxi (AD 227–265) under the successive emperors of the Cao Wei regime following Emperor Ming.

The obverse bears the two characters “Wu Zhu” in small seal script, read from right to left. These were originally intended as “Wu Zhu”, yet the strokes of both characters have been truncated due to encroachment by the coin’s inner border—this phenomenon is often referred to as “truncated Wu” or “truncated Jin”. Some scholars regard such features as characteristic of Wu Zhu coins from the Cao Wei period. In particular, the “Jin” radical in the character “Zhu” is almost entirely truncated, with only the central horizontal stroke of the “Zhu” component extending leftwards. The strokes of the “Zhu” component are square and sharply folded. The inner rim surrounding the square hole on the obverse is extremely thin. On the reverse, both the outer rim and inner border are clearly present, yet the surface is otherwise plain and uninscribed. The coin exhibits rather crude workmanship, with excess metal and burrs visible along the edges. Coins of this type have been unearthed at multiple sites, including the tomb of Zhu Ran in Ma’anshan, Anhui; Hengyang, Hunan; and Xuchang, Henan.

The Book of Jin (Jin Shu晉書), in its Treatise on Food and Money (Shihuo Zhi食貨志), states: “When Cao Cao became Chancellor, he abolished it and reinstated the Wu Zhu coin.” This refers to Cao Cao’s decree, after assuming the position of Chancellor in AD 208, to ban the small, inscription-less coins issued by Dong Zhuo and to reinstate the standard Wu Zhu coin format used since the Han dynasty as the sole legal currency. However, no official Wu Zhu coins were minted at the time. It was not until the first year of Emperor Ming’s Taihe reign (AD 227) that official minting resumed, as indicated by the phrase “new Wu Zhu coins were minted” (geng zhu wu zhu qian 更鑄五銖錢). Based on excavated tombs, it appears that during the Cao Wei period, private coin minting was permitted alongside state-issued currency. After the Western Jin replaced the Wei in AD 266, no new official coins were minted throughout the Jin dynasty until the seventh year of Yuanjia (AD 430) under the Liu Song dynasty. Instead, Han and Wei-era copper coins continued to circulate. The allowance of private minting under the Cao Wei and Jin dynasties may have been a pragmatic response to the entrenched power of aristocratic clans, whose control over private minting was difficult to reclaim due to the significant profits involved. Alternatively, it may reflect the collapse of the monetary economy since the later Eastern Han period, which resulted in greater reliance on a barter-based economy.

物件編號: A2058

年代: 公元 227-265 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 21.9 x 22.0 x 0.6 mm

重量: 1.55 g

來源: 大城郵幣社 2015

這是一枚太和元年至咸熙二年(公元227至265年)，曹魏政權自明帝以降諸帝鑄造之「曹魏五銖」銅錢。

銅錢的正面錢文為由右向左順讀的小篆「五朱」二字，原為「五銖」。「五」、「銖」字筆畫遭外廓侵壓，可稱「壓五壓金」。當前有些學者認為，「壓五」或「壓金」是曹魏時期五銖錢的特徵。「銖」字金旁幾乎被簡省，僅剩「朱」旁中央橫劃延伸至左側，「朱」旁筆畫方折。正面方孔內廓幾無厚度，銅錢的背面則外輪內廓俱全，光素無文。錢幣鑄工較粗劣，有餘銅及毛邊。該類錢幣自安徽馬鞍山朱然墓、湖南衡陽、河南許昌等地有出土。

《晉書．食貨志》有載，「至魏武為相，於是罷之，還用五銖」。意為曹操登相後(公元208年)取締董卓所發行的無字小錢，規定漢以來五銖形制的銅錢才是合法貨幣，但應無官鑄五銖錢。直到魏明帝太和元年(公元227年)，「更鑄五銖錢」，即恢復官鑄。依據出土墓葬，曹魏時期可能同時開放民間私鑄，與官鑄銅錢並行不悖。西晉代魏(公元266年)後，直至劉宋元嘉七年(公元430年)，兩晉都未曾官鑄新錢，而是沿用漢魏銅錢。曹魏、兩晉不禁私鑄，可能是面對已坐大的世族豪強，難以回收可坐收厚利的鑄幣權，也可能是東漢歷朝以降，貨幣經濟的崩潰，造成實物經濟更受重視。