Item number: A2098

Year: 157-140 BC

Material: Bronze

Size: 23.9 x 23.5 x 0.8 mm

Weight: 2.1 g

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2015

This coin is believed to be a “Four Zhu Ban Liang” and was likely first minted in the first year of the Qianyuan era under Emperor Jing of the Western Han dynasty (157 BC), with production continuing until the first year of the Jianyuan era under Emperor Wu (140 BC).

The obverse and reverse of the coin lack an inner rim, although traces of the outer rim are faintly visible on the obverse. The coin inscription on the obverse reads “Ban Liang” in seal script, arranged from right to left. Notably, the character “Ban” is positioned slightly lower than “Liang”; the central horizontal stroke of “Liang” rises subtly, and many of the strokes are thick at both ends but thin in the middle, reflecting early features of Han clerical script. The two “Ren” radicals within the “Liang” character descend in the form of two rounded arcs, resembling small hills. This style is sometimes referred to as the “Lianshan Liang” or “Connected Mountain Liang”. Coins bearing this distinctive feature have been unearthed in locations such as Yongcheng, Xinzheng, Zhenping, and Nanyang in Henan Province.

The “Ban Liang” coin type continued the monetary system established during the Qin dynasty. During the Warring States period, the original Ban Liang coin weighed a true half liang, approximately 7.81 grams by modern measurement. However, by the end of the Qin dynasty, the weight had been reduced to eight zhu, or around 5.21 grams. At this point, the term “Ban Liang” no longer signified a specific face value or weight, but rather referred to the round coin with a square hole bearing that name. According to the “Treatise on Trade, Part II” in the Book of Han, “In the fifth year of Emperor Wen, as coins had become increasingly numerous and light, four-zhu coins were newly cast with the inscription ‘Ban Liang.’ The prohibition on private minting was lifted, and people were allowed to cast coins.” The phrase “coins had become increasingly numerous and light” refers to the early Han “Elm Seed Ban Liang” coins, also known as “pod coins”, which were light and thin, with oversized central holes. Though they also bore the inscription “Ban Liang”, their statutory weight was merely three zhu, which caused public dissatisfaction due to their lightness. Subsequently, Emperor Wen lifted the minting ban, allowing the populace to cast Ban Liang coins of standardised four-zhu weight under specific specifications. As a result, numerous variations of the Four Zhu Ban Liang coins emerged. Nevertheless, the actual weights of these coins, possibly due to effective institutional regulation and supervision, did not experience the phenomenon of bad coins driving out good ones. Excavated Four Zhu coins from the reign of Emperor Wen consistently exceed the statutory four zhu weight, approximately 2.6 grams today.

In the first year of the Jianyuan reign (140 BC), Emperor Wu initiated the minting of three-zhu coins. In the same year, the prohibition on private minting was reinstated: “All those who illicitly cast gold and bronze coins were to be executed; the number of officials and commoners violating the law was beyond count.” After several reversals in policy, a unified currency system was finally established under the Five Zhu coin.

Emperor Jing of Han, personal name Liu Qi, was the sixth emperor of the Western Han dynasty and reigned from 157 BC to 141 BC. He was the son of Emperor Wen and Empress Dowager Dou. He inherited and continued his father’s policies of light taxation and penal leniency. During his reign, tensions between the central government and powerful semi-autonomous regional kings intensified, eventually culminating in the Rebellion of the Seven States. Emperor Jing successfully suppressed the rebellion and curtailed the power of the feudal lords, thereby strengthening central authority and laying the foundation for the more extensive centralisation reforms of his successor, Emperor Wu. Politically, Emperor Jing promoted governance through virtue and respected Confucian ideals, while retaining certain Legalist practices. His reign, marked by relative political and economic stability, is often jointly remembered with that of his father as part of the “Rule of Wen and Jing”.

物件編號: A2098

年代: 公元前 157-140 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 23.9 x 23.5 x 0.8 mm

重量: 2.1 g

來源: 大城郵幣社 2015

此錢應為「四銖半兩」，可能於西漢景帝前元元年(公元前157年)始鑄，鑄行至武帝建元元年(公元前140年)。

錢幣正背面均無內廓，正面外輪隱現。正面錢文為「半兩」篆書，由右向左順讀。其中「半」字較「兩」字稍低；「兩」字中間橫劃微挑，而二字多筆兩端粗而中間細，已有漢隸味，「兩」字中之二「人」旁，呈二段向下的圓弧狀，類似小丘，有稱「連山兩」者。該特徵之半兩於河南永城、新鄭、鎮平、南陽等地均有出土。

「半兩」錢乃因循秦制，戰國時原實重半兩(約合今7.81公克)之「半兩」，至秦末時已輕至八銖(約合今5.21公克)，惟「半兩」已不再指代面額或重量，而是方孔圓圜形制之錢名。《漢書·食貨志下》有載，「孝文五年，為錢益多而輕，乃更鑄四銖錢，其文為『半兩』。除盜鑄錢令，使民放鑄。」「為錢益多而輕」指漢初鑄行之榆莢半兩錢，或稱莢錢，體輕而薄，穿孔甚大，錢文雖亦為半兩，但法重為三銖，「民患其輕」。後文帝開錢禁，使民得(以一定形制)倣鑄法重四銖之半兩。也因此，四銖半兩版別差異頗多，不可勝數。惟其實重，可能由於制度、督察得宜，反未出現劣幣驅逐良幣之現象，出土之文帝四銖錢反而均重略超法重的四銖(約合今2.6公克)。建元元年(公元前140年)，武帝改鑄三銖錢，同年，復錢禁：「盜鑄諸金錢罪皆死，而吏民之犯者不可勝數。」幾次政策反覆後，終以五銖一統幣制。

漢景帝，名劉啟，西漢第六位皇帝，於公元前157年至公元前141年在位。其為漢文帝與竇皇后之子，繼承乃父推行輕傜薄賦及減刑政策。在位期間，中央與割據地方的諸侯王之間矛盾日益加深，最終爆發七國之亂。漢景帝平亂削藩，加強中央集權，為其子漢武帝實行更進一步的中央集權政策奠定基礎。他在政治上主張德治，尊崇儒家，同時保留部分法家作風，任內政治經濟較為穩定，於其父文帝並稱「文景之治」。