Item number: A3498

Year: AD 1939

Material: Brass

Size: 19.8 x 19.8 x 1.5 mm

Weight: 3.5 g

Manufactured by: Kunming Branch of the Central Mint

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a 1-cent brass coin minted in the 28th year of the Republic of China (AD 1939), commissioned by the Fudian Provincial Bank—Yunnan’s most prominent financial institution at the time—and struck by the Kunming Branch of the Central Mint using brass as the base material.

The overall design of the coin emulates the copper coinage issued in the 24th year of the Republic of China (AD 1935) by the Nanjing Nationalist Government as part of its legal tender currency reform. Both the obverse and reverse sides are encircled by a continuous pattern of T-shaped motifs. At the centre of the obverse is the emblem of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party), with the inscription “Republic of China, Year 28” engraved along the upper edge.

The reverse of the coin features the spade money motif, a form of currency that circulated during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, later adopted by the Nationalist Government as the emblem of the Ministry of Finance. Within the spade design is the character 財 (“wealth”), rendered in a style imitating oracle bone script. Flanking the spade are the Chinese characters 壹仙, indicating the denomination “1-cent.” The term “仙” is a localised transliteration of the English word “cent,” originally introduced under British rule in Hong Kong and subsequently adopted in neighbouring Guangdong and Guangxi.

Due to the close political and economic ties between Yunnan and the two Guang provinces during the Republican period, Yunnan also began using “仙” as a coin denomination starting in the 21st year of the Republic (AD 1932).

物件編號: A3498

年代: 公元 1939 年

材質: 黃銅

尺寸: 19.8 x 19.8 x 1.5 mm

重量: 3.5 g

製造地: 中央造幣廠昆明分廠

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是一枚民國28年 (公元1939年)，雲南最重要的富滇新銀行委託中央造幣廠昆明分廠以黃銅為原料鑄造的「壹仙」銅幣。

錢幣的整體造型風格仿效民國24年 (公元1935年)，南京國民政府為了推行法幣政策所發行的銅幣樣式。錢幣正反兩面的周圍以連續的T型圖騰環繞。錢幣正面的正中央為中國國民黨的黨徽，上緣鐫刻發行年份「中華民國二十八年」。

錢幣背面則是春秋戰國時代流通，並且被國民政府用作財政部符號的布幣圖騰，布幣裡面還有仿造甲骨文的「財」字。布幣兩側以漢字標示面額「壹仙」，「仙」即是對應英文「Cent」，最早從英國統治下的香港延伸至廣東和廣西等地。民國以來，雲南和兩廣地區有密切的政治往來，故民國21年 (公元1932年) 起，也開始使用「仙」作為硬幣的面額。