Item number: A2772

Year: AD 1754-1760

Material: Brass

Size: 25.2 x 25.0 x 0.8 mm

Weight: 3.65 g

Manufactured by: Bao Quan Bureau (Board of Revenue Mint), Beijing

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2019

This specimen is a “Qianlong Tongbao” coin struck during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor between the nineteenth and twenty-fifth regnal years (AD 1754 – 1760) by the Baoquan Mint of the Board of Revenue, located in Shuntian Prefecture, Zhili Province. Its statutory mass is one qian and two fen (approximately 4.3 g in modern metric terms); its denomination is one wen, for which reason it is also classed as “small flat coin”. The piece follows the traditional Sinitic format of a round coin with a square central aperture, the outer rim being slightly broader than average. The obverse legend “Qian-long Tong-bao” is rendered in regular-script Chinese characters, to be read from top to bottom and right to left. In the character “Qian”, the right-hand radical is written with a longer upper and shorter lower stroke; the interior radicals of “Qian” divide evenly. The character “Long” inclines marginally to the right and upward; in “Tong”, the “yong” component begins with the stroke “マ”, while the “辶” radical opens with a pair of dots—hence the term “two-dot Tong”—and terminates in a straight, level hook. In “Bao”, the “缶” component is written as “尔”, whose left dot descends slightly; within the “貝” component the three horizontals do not meet the right vertical. The characters “Bao” and “Long” are contiguous, whereas none of the four characters touches either the aperture or the rim.

The reverse bears the Manchu legend “ᠪᠣᠣ ᠴᡳᠣᠸᠠᠨ”, read left “Bao”, right “Quan”. The initial stroke “ᠪ” of “Bao” is executed with a curved break; the two “ᠣ” graphs stand notably apart; neither Manchu word impinges upon the aperture or rim.

The Baoquan Mint was the highest monetary authority of the Qing state. Its antecedent, a Board-of-Revenue mint of the same name, had been created under the Ming; after the Qing court occupied Beijing in AD 1644 (the first year of Shunzhi) the mint was formally re-established under the Board of Revenue. Unlike the Bao-yuan Mint, subordinate to the Board of Works, Bao-quan always held superior status and was charged with delivering its output directly to the treasury. Prior to the conquest, the Later Jin regime had maintained a smaller “Outer-Pass” mint at Liaoyang. From the Shunzhi reign onwards Bao-quan became the principal central mint, and, in response to political, economic and security considerations, was expanded in AD 1726 (the fourth year of Yongzheng) from a single workshop to five—Central, East, South, West and North—distributed across the capital. The Central Works, occupying the original site, also housed the mint offices and the copper and coin reserves; the other four works undertook the actual casting. Their separation reduced fire-risk and labour unrest and improved quality control.

During the Qianlong reign, the term “small coin” primarily referred to copper coinage that was lighter in weight than the standard monetary unit, the zhiqian (or “large coin”), and whose exchange value was proportionally lower. Such small coins were minted by both official institutions and private actors throughout the Qing dynasty. The most representative example of this currency was the so-called “capital coin” (jingqian), which originated from the seven-fen coins (approximately 3 grams in modern measure) struck during the Kangxi period by the Baoquan and Baoyuan mints. These coins, weighing roughly half of the standard zhiqian of one qian and four fen, gave rise to a widely practised market convention wherein two small coins were treated as equivalent to one large coin in transactional value.

In the Qianlong era, the phenomenon of “expensive coin and cheap silver” was prevalent throughout northern China, particularly in the regions of Beijing, Zhili, and Shandong. This economic condition fuelled considerable demand among the populace for lightweight copper coinage. Notably, the government did not issue a formal ban on the circulation of small coins minted during the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods. On the contrary, official memorials and imperial edicts began to draw explicit distinctions between “officially cast coins” (guanzhu), “mint-privatised coins” (jusi), and wholly private counterfeit issues (sibanqian, “sand-cast coins”, and eyanqian, “goose-eye coins”). Coins produced through jusi were deemed by the authorities as “still passable in circulation” in contrast to the inferior private counterfeits, thereby granting such jusi coins a de facto legitimacy.

The term “jusi” referred to the unauthorised minting of small coins by government-operated mints, wherein officials or workers covertly extended working hours to produce additional coinage for private profit. These coins were typically slightly smaller and lighter than standard zhiqian, yet retained a relatively high level of craftsmanship and were readily accepted in commercial exchange. Due to the Qianlong administration’s pragmatic tolerance toward circulating currency and its flexibility in monetary policy, jusi small coins increasingly became indistinguishable in practise from officially minted capital coins, resulting in their gradual convergence within the market.

During the Xianfeng period (AD 1851 – 1861), amid fiscal instability, a term “Baoquan Branch Mint” was introduced, but in most contexts it denoted a separate Board-of-Revenue iron-coin facility at Pingding Prefecture, Shanxi, whose products nonetheless bore the usual Bao-quan Manchu mint-mark and thereby caused confusion. Bao-quan itself did not open an iron-coin branch until AD 1857 and closed it two years later. By the end of the Guangxu reign, machine-struck copper dollars were superseding cast cash; Bao-quan’s operations contracted to the remaining north-west workshops and traditional coinage was gradually withdrawn, the mint being abolished in the winter of AD 1910 (Xuantong 2).

The alloy of the Qianlong Tongbao varied regionally, relying chiefly on imported and Yunnan copper; procurement underwent several policy revisions. From Kangxi to Qianlong, copper was acquired through joint official-merchant ventures, with some foreign metal entering via the Jiangsu–Zhejiang customs stations. Between AD 1736 and 1740 Bao-quan followed Yongzheng precedent in casting “yellow coins” with a six-parts copper to four-parts lead-zinc mixture. In AD 1740, owing to extensive illicit melting of coins for utensil-making, the government prescribed a new “green coin” alloy of 50 % red copper, 41.5 % white lead (zinc), 6.5 % black lead and 2 % tin; all mints were ordered to comply, and the resulting coins were reputed to shatter if melted for reuse. Archaeological finds, however, indicate that yellow-alloy coins continued to be produced in considerable quantity. In AD 1794, possibly because private foundries had mastered the green-coin technique, the decree was rescinded and yellow-coin casting resumed.

The Qianlong Emperor, Aisin-Gioro Hongli, reigned from AD 1735 to 1796 and, together with Kangxi and Yongzheng, symbolised the High-Qing prosperity. His reign combined literary and military achievements: the compilation of the “Complete Library of the Four Treasuries”, the suppression of the Dzungar and Hui rebellions, and territorial expansion to its historical apogee, whence he styled himself the “Old Man of the Ten Perfect Accomplishments”. He championed Confucian scholarship and cultural governance, yet his later years were marked by extravagance and growing corruption that foreshadowed the dynasty’s decline.

物件編號: A2772

年代: 公元 1754-1760 年

材質: 黃銅

尺寸: 25.2 x 25.0 x 0.8 mm

重量: 3.65 g

製造地: 寶泉局(戶部)，北京

來源: 大城郵幣社 2019

這是清代乾隆帝，於乾隆十九年至二十五年(公元1754至1760年)，由位於直隸省順天府之戶部寶泉局，所鑄行之「乾隆通寶」。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統之方孔圓錢，外輪稍寬。錢面錢文為漢字「乾隆通寶」楷書，由上至下，由右至左對讀。「乾」字「乙」旁寫為上長下短；「龺」旁與「乞」旁垂直平分各半；「隆」字右傾微仰；「通」字「甬」旁字首寫為 「マ」；「通」字「辶」旁字首寫為二點，稱「二點通」，末筆捺平直；「寶」字「缶」旁寫為「尔」，「尔」左點稍降；「寶」字「貝」旁三橫劃與右豎劃不相接。「寶、隆」字相沾連。四字均未接穿連輪。

錢背錢文為滿文「ᠪᠣᠣ ᠴᡳᠣᠸᠠᠨ」，即左「寶」右「泉」。滿文「寶」字字首「ᠪ」筆劃圓折；兩「ᠣ」字中隙較寬；二字均未接穿連輪。為形制略小的錢幣的闊輪版本，或為官局私鑄，或為錢局官吏、工匠之賞錢。

清朝寶泉局為中央最高鑄幣機構，其前身可追溯至明代戶部設立的寶泉局，至清順治元年(公元1644年)清廷入關定都北京後正式設局，隸屬戶部。寶泉局不同於工部所轄的寶源局，其地位始終較高，負責將所鑄制錢納入國庫作為財政支出之用。入關前，後金政權曾於遼陽設置關外錢局進行少量銅錢鑄造。順治朝以降，寶泉局成為中央主要之鑄錢局，並於雍正四年(公元1726年)因應政治、經濟與安全等多重考量，由原本僅有一廠擴編為中、東、南、西、北五廠，分設於北京城不同地區。中廠原址兼為局署，主要負責銅料與錢幣庫藏，其他四廠分工鼓鑄。各廠獨立運作以防災害與勞役鬧事，亦有助於提高製幣品質。咸豐年間(公元1851-1861年)，因應局勢變動與物價失衡，政府設立“寶泉分局”一詞所指多為另設的戶部鐵錢局，位於山西平定州，其所鑄鐵錢仍沿用寶泉局之滿文標記，遂引起混淆。寶泉局自身設立鐵錢分局則遲至咸豐七年(公元1857年)，並於兩年後停鑄，存續極短。進入光緒末年，機器製造銅元逐漸取代傳統制錢，寶泉局鼓鑄規模縮減至僅餘西北兩廠，並逐步以銅元取代傳統銅錢，最終於宣統二年(公元1910年)冬裁撤。

乾隆時期所謂「小錢」，主要是指重量與制錢(大錢)相比偏輕、幣值折算不及制錢的銅錢。這類小錢在清代官方與民間皆有鑄行，其中最具代表性的實體形式為「京錢」，源自康熙年間寶泉、寶源兩局所鑄的七分小錢(約合今3公克)，與當時一錢四分的標準制錢相比重量約為一半，因而在市面上形成「二文當一文」的計價與使用習慣。乾隆時期，由於北方地區普遍存在「錢貴銀賤」的局面，特別是在北京、直隸、山東三地，民間對於輕質小錢需求殷切，而官方亦未明令禁用康熙、雍正年間所鑄的小錢，反而在奏摺與諭令中明確區分「官鑄」、「局私」與「私錢」，並以「局私」所鑄之錢相對於民間私鑄砂板錢、鵝眼錢等為「尚可流通」，從而賦予其事實上的合法性。「局私」指的是官辦錢局未經朝廷許可，私自加班偷鑄小錢以牟利，其所鑄小錢形制略小於標準制錢，重量稍減，但仍保有一定品質，易於在市面流通。由於乾隆朝對貨幣流通的容忍與實務彈性，這類局私小錢與官鑄京錢，於市場漸趨混同。

乾隆通寶的成色，按地區也各有差別，所用原料多依賴洋銅與滇銅，並歷經多次政策變更：康熙至乾隆年間改採官商與民商合作方式採辦，部分洋銅亦由江浙關口負責。乾隆元年至五年(公元1736-1740年)，寶泉局襲雍正朝定例，鑄「黃錢」，以銅六鉛(鋅及鉛)四搭配。乾隆五年，由於民間毀錢鑄器以圖利的現象普遍，於是改以紅銅百分之五十、白鉛(鋅)百分之四十一點五、黑鉛百分之六點五、點錫百分之二的比例改鑄「青錢」，各錢局一體遵行，據稱若毀青錢鑄器則一擊即碎。但按出土實物，似乎仍鑄黃錢者仍有不少。乾隆五十九年(公元1794年)，或因民間改鑄青錢之新技術廣泛傳播，故廢青錢，復鑄黃錢。

乾隆帝，清高宗愛新覺羅弘曆，公元1735至1796年在位，乾隆與康、雍並為清朝盛世的象徵。他推行文治武功，編修《四庫全書》，平定準噶爾與回部叛亂，擴展帝國疆域至歷史高峰，以此自稱「十全老人」，並重視儒學與文化治理。晚年奢侈揮霍，政治日漸腐敗，為清朝衰退埋下伏筆。