Item number: A2677

Year: 475-221 BC

Material: Bronze

Size: 20.9 x 14.0 x 1.2 mm

Weight: 1.55 g

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2014

This is a bronze cowrie imitation coin, believed to have been cast during the Warring States period, modelled after natural cowrie shells used as currency.

The obverse features a moulded shell aperture, with the central groove slightly curved and flanked by ridged lines simulating the teeth-like structure of genuine cowries. The surface is gently convex, and the longer end is not pierced through.

The reverse is slightly concave, giving the coin a shallow dish-shaped profile. It imitates the worn-flat reverse of real cowrie shells, which were abraded during circulation to allow for stable placement and ease of stringing with cords.

There are no inscriptions on either the obverse or reverse.

Cowrie currency is likely the earliest known form of money in China. From the late Neolithic to the Shang and Zhou periods, the peoples of the Central Plains—like those along the coasts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans—widely used natural sea cowries as a medium of exchange and a symbol of wealth. Valued for their hardness, rarity, and beauty, cowries became favoured objects for aristocratic gift-giving and transactions, and appear frequently in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions. Many Chinese characters related to value and wealth, such as “cai” (wealth), “huo” (goods), “hui” (bribe), “pin” (poverty), and “gui” (nobility), derive from the “bei” (cowrie) radical, demonstrating their close association with economic activity. The standard unit of cowrie currency was the “peng”, which originally denoted a string of shells, later becoming a general unit of account with variable quantity.

To address the limited supply of natural cowries, imitation cowries began to appear from the Shang and Zhou periods onward. These were made from clay, bone, or bronze. Bronze cowrie coins closely resembled the natural form and were often cast with perforations for stringing and storage. Archaeological finds indicate that bronze cowries were commonly placed in aristocratic tombs in the Yellow River region, and some may have served a practical monetary function. Though lacking standardised denominations, these coins represent an early stage in the development of formal coinage systems. Inscriptions from the Western Zhou period frequently refer to the collection of dues in units called “lü”, which may have denoted cowries valued by weight.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, cowrie currency gradually fell out of use. However, monetary forms resembling cowries appear to have migrated southward, as evidenced by “ant-nose” coins from the state of Chu. After the Warring States era, cowries ceased to be mainstream currency, though they briefly reappeared under Wang Mang’s monetary reforms and continued to circulate in parts of Yunnan until the late Ming dynasty.

物件編號: A2677

年代: 公元 475-221 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 20.9 x 14.0 x 1.2 mm

重量: 1.55 g

來源: 大城郵幣社 2014

這是一枚應於戰國時期鑄行之青銅貝幣，仿實物貨貝而鑄。

正面鑄殼口，殼口之漕微曲，兩側仿實物貨貝而鑄齒紋。正面微凸，長端無貫通。

背面微凹，使側面呈淺碟狀。仿作為貨貝之實物貝殼，於流通時背面磨去，方便平放以及以繩串連的形制。

錢面背均無文。

貝幣可能為中國最早的貨幣形式。早在新石器時代晚期至商周時期，中原先民一如印度洋、太平洋沿岸各族先民，即已普遍使用天然海貝作為價值交換與財富象徵。由於貝殼堅固、稀有、美觀，逐漸成為貴族之間贈予與交易的媒介，並廣泛出現在甲骨文與金文中，如「財」「貨」「賄」「貧」「貴」等字皆從「貝」旁，可見其與經濟行為密不可分。使用單位為「朋」，最初指一串，後泛指數量不等的計數單位。

為解決真貝來源有限的問題，商周以降開始出現仿製貝幣，有陶質、骨質、銅質等。青銅貝幣多模仿天然貝形，常見穿孔設計以便串連保存。出土資料顯示，青銅貝幣多見於黃河流域諸侯國的貴族墓葬，部分亦可能具備實際流通功能。青銅貝雖未見統一面額，卻反映出鑄幣制度的初步萌芽。西周銘文中屢見「取賦若干寽」之語，「寽」或即指以重計價的銅貝。春秋戰國時期，貝幣逐漸不再使用，但形制類似貝幣的貨幣，可能有逐漸流傳至南方的趨勢，如楚國蟻鼻錢等。至戰國時期以降，貝幣不再是錢幣主流，僅於王莽改制時曇花一現，但仍在雲南地區持續行用至明末。