Item number: A2891

Year: AD 1945

Material: Gold

Size: 31.3 x 24.1 mm

Weight: 30.0 g

Manufactured by: 中央造幣廠，重慶

Provenance: Chang Ming-chuan Collection 2023

This is a gold bar minted in the 34th year of the Republic of China (AD 1945) by the Central Mint of the Nationalist Government, then located in Chongqing. Rectangular, the bar weighs approximately one tael.

The obverse of the gold bar bears, on the left side, the emblem of the Ministry of Finance: a stylised representation of a spade coin, a currency form circulated during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Within the spade design is an archaic-style character for “財” (meaning “finance” or “treasury”), rendered in imitation of oracle bone script.

To the right of the emblem are three lines of inscriptions. From top to bottom, they read: the production serial number “CKI 36147”, in which “CKI” stands for the Chongqing Mint; the gold fineness “995.4”, indicating a purity of 99.54%; and the weight “.960”, denoting a mass of 0.96 taels.

The reverse of the bar is inscribed with two lines of Chinese characters. The upper line reads “中央造幣廠鑄” (“Cast by the Central Mint”), and the lower line indicates the year of issue: “民國卅四年” (“34th year of the Republic of China”).

In September AD 1943, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalist Government, to stabilise the value of the fabi (legal tender), received a shipment of US$220 million in gold from the United States. It was subsequently decided that this gold would be melted down and recast into smaller ingots for public sale. Thereafter, the melting and casting of bullion into small-denomination gold bars became a major function of the Central Mint.

However, inefficiencies within the mint led to public dissatisfaction, as many citizens were unable to purchase the gold as intended. It was not until August AD 1945, when Wei Xianzhang was appointed director of the Central Mint and significantly increased production capacity, that the issue was effectively resolved.

物件編號: A2891

年代: 公元 1945 年

材質: 黃金

尺寸: 31.3 x 24.1 mm

重量: 30.0 g

製造地: 中央造幣廠，重慶

來源: 張明泉舊藏 2023

這是一枚民國34年 (公元1945年)，國民政府以位於重慶的中央造幣廠鑄造的重量約一兩左右的金條，其外觀為長方形。

金條正面的左側打印財政部徽章，即春秋戰國時代流通的布幣圖騰，布幣內還有仿造甲骨文的「財」字。徽章的右側有三行文字，從上而下分別標示出廠流水號「CKI 36147」，「CKI」即是重慶廠的英文簡稱。中央則是金條的成色「995.4」，下方則是重量「.960」。金條背面以漢字打印兩行文字，分別是發行方「中央造幣廠鑄」和年份「民國卅四年」。

公元1943年9月，時值中日戰爭期間，國民政府為了穩定法幣的價值，從美國獲得2億2千萬美元的黃金，決定鎔鑄這批金塊為小金條於市場兜售。此後將金塊鎔鑄為小體積的金條就成為中央造幣廠重要業務。不過中央造幣廠效率不佳使得無法順利購買黃金的民眾不滿。一直到公元1945年8月，改由韋憲章出任造幣廠廠長加大生產力道，方才解決民眾不滿的問題。