Item number: A3509

Year: AD 659-709

Material: Bronze

Size: 24.1 x 24.0 x 1.1 mm

Weight: 3.05 g

Manufactured by: Bukhara Mint

Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2025

This is a “Kaiyuan tongbao” coin, which is believed to have been cast in Anguo, a polity in the Transoxiana region.

The coin follows the traditional form of round coins with a square central hole characteristic of the Chinese cultural sphere. The obverse inscription reads “Kaiyuan tongbao” in four characters, rendered in a mixed style combining clerical and seal script, to be read from top to bottom and right to left. The outer rim is comparatively well finished, while the inner rim is rough, giving the impression of an almost circular hole. The inscription imitates the style of early Tang coinage, though the characters are indistinct.

On the coin’s field, above the central hole, there appears to be a horn-shaped or Y-shaped mark; below, a U-shaped symbol; and to the left, a figure resembling the numeral “8”. The indistinctness of the strokes makes these difficult to identify. In general, coins struck by the Sogdians of Transoxiana often bore tribal tamgas (Old Turkic: 𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga), sometimes also rendered as tamga in transliteration. It has been suggested that certain tamgas were derived from simplified forms of the suspended-stroke seal script found on Wang Mang’s “Huoquan” coins, possibly because the Wang Mang era was a crucial period when Chinese coin forms spread into Central Asia. Some scholars have argued instead that these symbols originated in Zoroastrian or Nestorian iconography. In later issues, Sogdian inscriptions of royal names and titles also appeared on the coin fields.

Anguo was one of the Sogdian city-states, situated in the western Transoxiana region (in present-day south-western Uzbekistan). In Tang sources it was considered one of the “Nine Surnames of Zhaowu” or “Nine Hu Surnames”. Its people often adopted the state name as a surname when travelling within Chinese territory, as in the case of the notable figure An Lushan. Despite the name “Nine Surnames”, there were in fact more than nine polities, and the grouping was not ethnically homogeneous. The Sogdians likely traced their origins to remnants of the Da Yuezhi who had been defeated by the Xiongnu, subsequently blending with Turkic and other peoples in the region.

In the fourth year of Zhenguan of Emperor Taizong of Tang (AD 630), Tang generals Li Jing and Li Ji destroyed the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, extending Tang influence in Central Asia. In the twelfth year of Zhenguan (AD 638), Anguo sent tribute to the Tang court for the first time. In the fourth year of Xianqing of Emperor Gaozong (AD 659), following the Tang conquest of the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Zhaowu Nine Surnames were brought under loose Tang suzerainty, with the ruler of Anguo appointed governor of Anxi Prefecture, subordinate to the Anxi Protectorate.

Benefiting from their geographical position and commercial acumen, the Sogdians travelled along the Silk Road and established communities in Chang’an, Luoyang, and other cities, gradually attaining positions within the military and administrative structures of the Tang Empire. In the third year of Jinglong of Emperor Zhongzong (AD 709), Qutayba ibn Muslim, general of the Umayyad Caliphate (then known in Tang sources as the “White-clothed Arabs”) and governor of Khurasan, conquered the Anguo capital of Bukhara (rendered in Chinese sources as Buhe), bringing the state of Anguo to an end.

物件編號: A3509

年代: 公元 659-709 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 24.1 x 24.0 x 1.1 mm

重量: 3.05 g

製造地: 布哈拉

來源: 史蒂芬稀有錢幣專輯 2025

這是一枚應為河中地區的安國所鑄的開元通寶。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統之方孔圓錢。錢面有錢文「開元通寶」四字，兼隸兼篆，由上至下由右至左對讀。外輪較為精整，但內廓粗獷，幾近圓穿。錢文風格模仿唐初形制，但文字漫漶。

錢幕之錢穿上方似乎有一牛角或「Y」字型符號，下方似有一「∩」型符號，左方似有一「8」字型符號，惟文字漫漶難以辨識。一般而言，河中粟特人所鑄之錢，錢幕會有族徽(古突厥語：𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga，或譯塔木加)，據稱有些族徽為王莽「貨泉」幣上之懸針篆體簡化而來，或許因王莽時期為錢幣形制傳入西域的主要時代。也有些學者認為錢幕符號來源於祆教或景教的象徵。晚期錢幕也出現了粟特文的王名與稱號。

安國為粟特城邦之一，位於河中西部地區(今烏茲別克西南部)，於唐代時人認為是「昭武九姓」或「九姓胡」的一支，其國人於漢境行走時常以國名為姓，著名者如安祿山。雖名「九姓」，但並非僅有九個政權，也大概並非單一民族組成。粟特人源流可能可以上溯至大月氏被匈奴擊滅後的殘部，於當地逐漸與突厥等民族相融。唐太宗貞觀四年(公元630年)，唐軍將領李靖、李勣攻滅東突厥汗國，唐廷對西域影響力漸增。貞觀十二年(公元638年)時安國首次入貢。唐高宗顯慶四年(公元659年)，唐滅西突厥，羈縻昭武九姓，封安國君主為安息州刺史，統歸安西大都護府管理。粟特人藉地利與商貿之便，往來於絲綢之路沿線，並於長安、洛陽等地建立社群，並逐漸於唐帝國的軍、政系統中取得一定地位。唐中宗景隆三年(公元709年)，伍麥亞王朝(時稱白衣大食)將領，呼羅珊總督屈底波·本·穆斯林征服安國都城捕喝(即布哈拉Bukhara古譯)，安國覆亡。