Item number: A2708

Year: AD 547-548

Material: Bronze

Size: 23.4 x 23.3 x 1.4 mm

Weight: 3.1 g

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2015

This coin is believed to have been minted during the Taiqing period (AD 547–549) under Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty in the Southern Dynasties.

The obverse bears the inscription “Taiqing Fengle” (太清豐樂) in seal script (“zhuanshu” 篆書). The reign title “Taiqing” (太清) is read from right to left along the horizontal axis. When the coin is rotated ninety degrees counter-clockwise, the auspicious phrase “Fengle” (豐樂) appears, also read from right to left. The coin features an outer rim (“wailun” 外輪) without an inner rim (“neikuo” 內廓); however, the altered character structures and stroke orders allow the characters to align visually with an implied inner frame, causing the inner contour to appear faintly. The script is archaic and composed, with rounded strokes, resembling the style found on Liang dynasty iron “Five Zhu” coins (“wu zhu” 五銖).

The character forms exhibit several distinctive features: the final stroke of “Tai” (太) is written as two dots (二點) with an additional horizontal stroke (一橫) above; in “Qing” (清), the water radical (“shui” 水) is vertically split in half; in “Feng” (豐), the “kou” (口) component within the “dou” (豆) radical is replaced with the character “ri” (日); and in “Le” (樂), the upper portion of the “mu” (木) radical—typically composed of three “mi” (糸) radicals in seal script—is here modified with a central “ri” (日) and two simplified dot forms (二點) on either side.

The reverse of the coin contains both outer and inner rims, but the surface is uninscribed (“guangsu wuwen” 光素無文). From each corner of the square central hole (“fangchuan” 方穿), lines extend outward to the outer rim, a stylistic feature known as “sichuwen” (四出文), meaning “four outward lines”.

In the early Liang dynasty, Emperor Wu promoted the simultaneous circulation of two currency types—the “Tianjian Five Zhu” (天監五銖) and the “Gongshi Female Coin” (公式女錢)—to address the shortage of coinage. However, due to rampant overproduction by both official and private mints, the public lost trust in these new coins and continued using ancient coinage from the Han dynasty onward. Government restrictions failed to curb the disorder. As a result, in the fourth year of the Putong era (AD 524), Emperor Wu issued an edict abolishing copper coins and introducing iron coins (“tie qian” 鐵錢), thereby initiating the widespread use of iron currency by subsequent dynasties.

Because iron was cheap, abundant, and easy to cast, both officials and private individuals engaged freely in coin production. This led to a flood of iron coins in circulation. Yet, since iron corrodes easily, many of these coins quickly degraded, reducing the effective money supply. Thus, inflation and deflation followed one another in rapid succession over the span of just a few decades.

In his later years, Emperor Wu appears to have made attempts at monetary reform. In AD 547, he adopted the new reign title “Taiqing”, and likely began minting the “Taiqing Fengle” (太清豐樂) coin to restore stability to the collapsing monetary system. Shortly afterwards, in Taiqing second year (AD 548), Hou Jing launched a rebellion against the Liang. That same year, Jiankang was besieged, leaving no opportunity to implement further economic measures. In Taiqing third year (AD 549), Jiankang fell. As contemporary accounts stated, “white bones lay in heaps like mounds and hills” (“baigu chengju, ru qiulong yan” 白骨成聚，如丘隴焉). Emperor Wu died that same year. The economic depression and governmental discredit caused by currency instability directly contributed to the collapse of the Liang regime, which the later Chen dynasty was unable to recover from.

The “Taiqing Fengle” coin is not mentioned in official historical records. It was first documented in the “Quanzhi” (《泉志》), a numismatic treatise by Hong Zun (洪遵), which catalogued coinage before the Tang dynasty. Due to the complexity of the seal script, the inscription was initially misread as “Tianqing Fengle” (天清豐樂), and only later correctly associated with the Taiqing reign title of Emperor Wu.

Emperor Wu of Liang, born Xiao Yan (蕭衍, AD 464–549), was the founding ruler of the Liang dynasty in the Southern Dynasties. He ascended the throne in AD 502 and reigned for forty-eight years—the longest reign among Southern dynasty emperors. Formerly a general of the Southern Qi, he rose in rebellion toward the end of that regime, overthrew Emperor Donghun (東昏侯), established the Liang dynasty, and made Jiankang (modern-day Nanjing) its capital.

In the early part of his reign, he promoted austerity, prioritised education and Confucian values, recruited scholar-gentry elites, and embraced Buddhism, actively promoting the religion. However, in his later years, his administration grew increasingly corrupt, and his excessive religious devotion led to extravagant expenses. He famously entered the Tongtai Temple (同泰寺) as a monk on four occasions, each time prompting the court to pay enormous sums to “redeem” him—reputedly totalling in the billions. During the Taiqing era, the Hou Jing Rebellion broke out, Jiankang was besieged, and Emperor Wu died within the palace citadel from starvation and illness.

物件編號: A2708

年代: 公元 547-548 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 23.4 x 23.3 x 1.4 mm

重量: 3.1 g

來源: 大城郵幣社 2015

此錢應為於南朝梁武帝太清年間(公元547-549)所鑄之「太清豐樂」。

錢面錢文為「太清豐樂」篆書，年號「太清」由右至左順讀，以太清為水平線，將錢幣逆時針旋轉九十度後，為吉語「豐樂」，由右至左順讀。錢面有外輪無內廓，以特殊字形與筆順調換使字緣與內廓相合，內廓因而隱隱而現。文字古樸端壯，筆畫圓潤，似梁鐵五銖。「太」字末筆寫為二點，上添一橫；「清」之「水」旁垂直截半；「豐」字「豆」旁之「口」部，寫為「日」；「樂」字「木」旁上篆書常寫為三「糸」旁，此處中央改為「日」，兩側各簡寫為二點。

錢背外輪內廓俱全，光素無文。方穿邊廓四角向外延伸直至外輪，稱「四出文」。

梁初推行天監五銖、公式女錢二品並行，以補通貨之不足。由於官、私濫鑄，不受商民信任，市場仍行用漢以來古錢。貨幣紊亂，禁不能止。是以於普通四年(公元524年)，梁武帝詔「盡罷銅錢，更鑄鐵錢」，開歷朝大量行用鐵錢之先。鐵賤易得，且冶鑄容易，官民放縱私鑄，於是鐵錢很快浮濫於市場，其後由於鐵錢易鏽，通貨愈少。於是，通貨膨脹與通貨緊縮在十數年間接踵而至。梁武帝晚年亦似有採取措施。公元547年，梁武帝改元太清，可能同時始鑄「太清豐樂」錢，以挽貨幣崩潰景況。未幾，太清二年(公元548年)，侯景起兵反梁，同年，建康見圍，無論梁末貨幣改革的政策為何，都再無實踐機會。太清三年(公元548年)，建康城陷，「白骨成聚，如丘隴焉」，同年梁武帝逝。貨幣動盪造成的經濟蕭條與政府失信，不僅導致梁末的混亂與崩潰，直至陳末未能復元。「太清豐樂」史籍無載，最早見於洪遵收唐以前舊譜著之《泉志》，因字體故，作「天清豐樂」，後才與梁武帝太清年號相繫。

梁武帝蕭衍(AD 464-549)，是南朝梁的開國皇帝，於公元502年即位，在位達四十八年，是南朝歷代皇帝中在位最久者。其原為南齊將領，於齊末起兵，推翻東昏侯，建立梁朝，定都建康(今南京)。梁武帝在位之初推行節儉政策，重視文教，延攬士族，並皈依佛教，積極推廣。然而，梁武帝晚年縱弛官員貪腐，政治日益敗壞，加以因佞佛而鋪張靡費，四次捨身至同泰寺，朝廷「奉贖」之錢，數以億計。太清年間，侯景之亂爆發，建康被圍，梁武帝困於台城，最終在飢餓與病困中去世。