Item number: A3296

Year: AD 758-762

Material: Bronze

Size: 27.9 x 28.0 mm

Weight: 7.6 g

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2015

This is a bronze coin issued in AD 758, the first year of Emperor Suzong of Tang’s Qianyuan reign, under the recommendation of Diwu Qi, who was then serving as Censor-in-Chief. The coin, titled Qianyuan Zhongbao, was minted to raise military funds for suppressing the An Lushan Rebellion. One Qianyuan Zhongbao coin was intended to be equivalent to ten Kaiyuan Tongbao coins.

The coin adopts the traditional Chinese format of a round shape with a square central hole. The inscription on the obverse reads “Qianyuan Zhongbao” in clerical script (lishu), and is to be read top-to-bottom, right-to-left. The character “乾” is written with a curved vertical hook replacing the “乞” component, thus resembling the alternative form “乹”. The second horizontal stroke of “元” is lifted upward on the left side. The “寶” character has the “缶” component rendered as “尔”, forming the variant “寳”, with the final two dots shaped like the phonetic symbol ㄦ. In the upper-left corner of the coin’s central square hole appears a crescent-shaped mark, also referred to as a “nail mark” or jiahen, opening toward the upper left. The remainder of the coin face is plain and unadorned, though a minor fissure is visible on the right side of the square hole.

The Qianyuan Zhongbao holds historical significance as the first coin in Chinese monetary history to feature the characters “Zhongbao” (literally “important treasure”) in its inscription—a phrase derived from the maxim “Money is the state’s great treasure” (qian, guo zhi zhongbao). Though the coin was produced for less than five years, numerous variants exist, particularly with different designs on the reverse side. Common motifs include stars, moons, auspicious clouds, and birds.

Crescent motifs had appeared on Chinese coinage as early as the Western Han dynasty, and are also seen on Kaiyuan Tongbao coins minted during the Tang dynasty. These crescent forms likely held no particular symbolic meaning. However, during the Tang period, they became imbued with mystique in popular folklore. It was widely believed that the crescent was the fingernail mark of an imperial consort who had inspected the coin mould before it was submitted for imperial approval. Various legends attributed the mark to Empress Wende, Empress Dou, or even Yang Guifei. Although Sima Guang debunked this myth in the Northern Song period, it nevertheless persisted as a source of poetic inspiration in later literature.

The crescent marks, in reality, may have originated either as deliberate symbols or as by-products of new moulding techniques. During sand-casting, if the mother coin accidentally fell into the sand mould, it could produce a curved indentation resembling the coin’s edge, resulting in crescent patterns or even irregular double rims and ghosting effects.

Diwu Qi, whose compound surname is “Diwu” and given name “Qi”, was a native of Chang’an in Jingzhao. He gained a reputation for competence from a young age. After the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion in AD 755, Diwu Qi assisted Governor Helan Jing in defending Beihai Commandery against rebel forces. During an audience with Emperor Suzong, he took the opportunity to recommend himself as a special commissioner to help the court raise military funds. In addition to monopolising the purchase of salt and iron, Diwu Qi also introduced the Qianyuan Zhongbao, a token coin of inflated face value. Initially, one Qianyuan Zhongbao weighing 6.5 grams could be exchanged for ten Kaiyuan Tongbao coins with a combined weight of approximately 40 grams. The coin’s weight was later reduced to 4 grams, effectively enabling the state to extract tenfold profit from the public.

In AD 759, Diwu Qi further issued a variant known as Chonglun Qianyuan Zhongbao (Double-rimmed Qianyuan Zhongbao), which weighed only 12 grams but carried a face value equivalent to fifty Kaiyuan Tongbao coins (approximately 200 grams in total). While such coins enabled rapid short-term fundraising, their inflated nominal value with minimal intrinsic worth gave rise to the phenomenon of “monetary illusion,” and ultimately led to inflation.

As unofficial minting of Qianyuan Zhongbao spread, the government responded with harsh penalties and attempted to reduce the coin’s weight further, in hopes of making private minting unprofitable. These measures, however, proved largely ineffective. According to the Old Book of Tang (Jiu Tang Shu), many large bells and Buddhist statues in the temples of Chang’an were melted down to produce counterfeit coins, and the number of those taking such risks became countless. This resulted in an abnormal situation where some specimens of Qianyuan Zhongbao weighed as much as 40 grams, while others weighed less than 1 gram. In his work Qianyuan Zhongbao Coin Catalogue, Japanese numismatist Yoshida Shōji classified as many as 667 distinct types of this coin.

Ultimately, in AD 762, the first year of the Baoying reign, all coins—regardless of size—were declared to circulate at face value equal to one Kaiyuan Tongbao, thereby effectively ending the policy of inflated token coinage. Although this reform is not mentioned in official histories, archaeological evidence and extant specimens suggest that smaller Qianyuan Zhongbao coins were minted during the Baoying period. In AD 763, the new emperor, Daizong of Tang, issued an edict to cease minting of the Qianyuan Zhongbao altogether. Following political defeat, Diwu Qi was exiled to the frontier region of what is now Guizhou, and was not recalled to office until the later years of Daizong’s reign. Due to the rising cost of copper, many Qianyuan Zhongbao coins were later melted down to make bronze utensils. By AD 771, the sixth year of the Dali reign, these coins had already disappeared from the marketplace.

物件編號: A3296

年代: 公元 758-762 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 27.9 x 28.0 mm

重量: 7.6 g

來源: 大城郵幣社 2015

這是一枚唐肅宗乾元元年(公元758年)，在時任御史中丞的第五琦建議下，為籌措軍費以平定安史之亂而鑄行的「乾元重寶」銅幣。一枚該「乾元重寶」當十枚「開元通寶」錢。

錢幣的型制為方孔圓錢，錢面錢文「乾元重寶」隸書。四字由上至下，由右至左對讀。「乾」字「乞」旁寫為一豎曲鉤，呈「乹」；「元」字次橫劃左側上挑；「寶」字「缶」旁寫為「尔」，呈「寳」，末二點筆寫法近「ㄦ」。錢幕錢穿左上角有一仰月或稱甲痕，朝左上方。其餘地章光素無文，惟錢穿右側微有裂痕。

乾元重寶是中國歷史上，首次將「重寶」兩字作為錢文的貨幣，出自「錢，國之重寶」典故。乾元重寶鑄造歷時不滿五年，卻有多種變形版本，尤其錢幣背面有不同圖案，常見者有：星、月、祥雲、雀鳥等不同圖飾。

中國最早在西漢時期就已出現新月圖案的錢幣，唐朝鑄造的「開元通寶」亦有新月圖案，皆沒有任何實質的特殊意義。不過新月圖案在唐朝卻被賦予神秘的色彩，民間流傳是錢模送交皇帝批准前，某一位后妃所留下的指甲印，甚至還出現文德皇后、竇皇后和楊貴妃三種說法。這種說法雖然在北宋已經為司馬光考證為無稽之談，但後世仍有文人以此作為詩詞創作的靈感。

實際月紋的可能來源除刻意為之的符號外，亦可能出自新技術翻砂法的採用，以母錢壓印砂模的過程中，若母錢掉落於砂模上，便可能形成一種弧度與幣緣類似的月紋，甚至是不規則的重輪、疊影等效果。

第五琦，複姓「第五」，名「琦」，出身京兆長安，少時便以能幹而知名。公元755年，安史之亂爆發後，第五琦輔佐北海郡太守賀蘭敬抵擋叛軍。後續覲見唐肅宗之際，乘機毛遂自薦擔任專使協助朝廷籌措軍費。第五琦壟斷鹽鐵收購外，另一項措施是鑄造虛值大錢的乾元重寶，起初以一枚重6.5克的乾元重寶兌換市面總重量為40克的十枚開元通寶。後續乾元重寶的重量還下調至4克，代表國家能從民間拿到十倍的利潤。公元759年，第五琦更鑄造背面有兩道錢輪的「重輪乾元重寶」，重量僅有12克卻能兌換五十枚開元通寶(總重量為200克)。鑄造這種面額看似龐大，實際價值卻極為有限的錢幣，雖然能在短期籌措到亟需的軍費，長期下來卻會造成通貨膨脹的「貨幣幻覺」現象。

後續民間紛紛仿鑄乾元重寶，政府祭出嚴厲的懲罰外，更進一步降低錢幣重量以期待私鑄者無利可圖，效果卻極為有限。據《舊唐書》紀載，長安城內寺廟的大鍾和佛像多被熔毀用以私鑄貨幣，社會上鋌而走險者不可勝數。這也導致乾元重寶最重者達到40克，最輕者卻不足1克的怪象產生。日本錢幣收藏家吉田昭二著作的《乾元重寶錢譜》，整理的種類有高達667種之譜。最終於寳應元年(公元762年，所有大小錢與開元通寶以一當一，一併通行。事實上廢止了虛值大錢的政策。而雖然史籍無載，據出土及傳世實物，寳應年間應另有鑄行錢體較小的乾元重寶小平錢。廣德元年(公元763年)，繼位的唐代宗下詔停止鑄造乾元重寶。政治鬥爭失利的第五琦也被流放到今日的貴州邊疆，直到唐代宗晚期才重新被起用。後乾元重寶因錢賤銅貴，多遭銷銅鑄器，至唐代宗大曆六年(公元771年)之時，市面上已經無法找到乾元重寶了。