Item number: A3535／A3624／A3625／A3626

Year: circa AD 450-550

Material: Copper

Size: 16.2 x 16.7 x 1.9 mm (A3535)／17.6 x 17.6 x 1.4 mm (A3624)／17.3 x 17.3 x 1.2 mm (A3625)／17.2 x 16.8 x 1.4 mm (A3626)

Weight: 3.4 g (A3535)／3.0 g (A3624)／2.8 g (A3625)／3.0 g (A3626)

Manufactured by: Tashkent

Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2025

These coins are believed to have been struck by King Asbar of Shiguo in the Transoxiana region. They are small copper coins of uncertain denomination, though the size and weight of this type are relatively common among the coinages of both Shiguo and the An State, and some scholars have suggested that they might in fact have been minted in the latter.

The obverse likely depicts a left-facing portrait of King Asbar. The workmanship is crude, and the design is blurred. The style of the portraits resembles that of King Akcania of Shiguo, who reigned somewhat later. The rims are slightly raised; certain coins attributed to King Asbar are further encircled by rings or beaded borders. The reverse bears a tamga (Old Turkic: 𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga), functioning either as a royal emblem or perhaps as the emblem of a city or tribe at that time. The design consists of an open oval enclosing several dots, with two curved lines extending outward from its lower end and a single curved line, also bending outward, attached to its upper end. Subtypes are classified according to the number of dots within the oval and the orientation of the upper curved line. Sogdian inscriptions are sometimes found around the emblem.

Shiguo (Tashkent) corresponds to present-day Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The word tash in Turkic means “stone,” while kent in Persian denotes “city.” In Tang sources it also appears as Zheshi or Zhezhi, and alternatively as Tichachi or Zhezhe, being counted among the so-called Nine Sogdian Families. Geographically it was situated around present-day Tashkent in Uzbekistan, near the outlet of the Fergana Valley, occupying a key route between Transoxiana and the Semirechye region, and serving as one of the principal hubs of overland traffic on the northern branch of the Silk Road. The earliest reference in Chinese historiography occurs in the Book of Wei, which calls it the Stone City or Stone Settlement, showing that the regimes of the Central Plains already had some understanding of Turkic and Persian culture. The Book of the Northern Dynasties records that the land produced mulberries, rice, grapes, and horses, and that its commerce was flourishing. The Tang dynasty New Book of Tang: Account of the Western Regions further described Shiguo as a Sogdian polity with abundant territory, fertile resources, prosperous cities, and long-standing tributary ties with the Tang court.

When the monk Xuanzang (AD 602–664) journeyed westward in search of Buddhist scriptures, he passed through the region and referred to it as Shiguo in his Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. In AD 657, following the Tang suppression of the Western Turkic Khaganate, Shiguo was incorporated into the jurisdiction of the Anxi Protectorate, becoming an important strategic base for Tang expansion in Central Asia. Thereafter, exchanges between Shiguo and the Tang court increased steadily. In AD 712, the king of Fergana was deposed by Qutayba ibn Muslim, governor of Khurasan under the Umayyad Caliphate, and a new ruler was installed. The deposed king fled to Kucha and appealed to the Tang court for assistance. In AD 715, Zhang Xiaosong, Protector-General of Beiting, defeated the Tibetan garrison and restored him to his throne. Over the next 180 years, the kings of Fergana at times entered into marriage alliances and received investiture from the Tang, while simultaneously contending intermittently with the Arabs, until most of the region gradually fell under Muslim rule.

In AD 750, Gao Xianzhi concluded a false peace with Shiguo and launched a sudden attack, capturing the king of Shiguo along with the Yellow-Turban Khagan of the Turgesh, the chieftain of Tibet, and the king of Jie. The king of Shiguo was taken as a captive to Chang’an and executed, an act that aroused resentment among the Nine Sogdian Families. The prince of Shiguo consequently contacted the “Black-Clad Arabs” (the Abbasid Caliphate) and invited them to advance into Transoxiana. In AD 751, Gao Xianzhi, learning of this, decided to strike first and marched to Talas, where he suffered a crushing defeat. In AD 755, the An Lushan Rebellion broke out, the Silk Road was severed, frontier defences collapsed, and the Tang Empire permanently lost its influence in the Western Regions, while the Karluk Khaganate rose to prominence. Thereafter Shiguo came increasingly under Abbasid influence, gradually entering its sphere of control.

Although generally regarded as one of the Sogdian polities of the Nine Families, in fact, prior to Islamisation, the elite culture of Tashkent was primarily Turkic in language and practice, while the merchant and commoner classes maintained Sogdian traditions and engaged in agriculture, commerce, and handicrafts. With the decline of Tang power and the advance of Islam, Shiguo was ultimately incorporated into the Arab-Islamic world. By the Ming and Qing periods, Chinese sources commonly referred to it as Dashigan.

物件編號: A3535／A3624／A3625／A3626

年代: 約公元 450-550 年

材料: 銅

尺寸: 16.2 x 16.7 x 1.9 mm (A3535)／17.6 x 17.6 x 1.4 mm (A3624)／17.3 x 17.3 x 1.2 mm (A3625)／17.2 x 16.8 x 1.4 mm (A3626)

重量: 3.4 g (A3535)／3.0 g (A3624)／2.8 g (A3625)／3.0 g (A3626)

製造地: 塔什干

來源: 史蒂芬稀有錢幣專輯 2025

這是一些應為河中地區石國的阿斯巴(Asbar)王所鑄的小銅幣，幣值不明，但該形制的大小與重量在石國鑄幣與安國鑄幣中較為常見，亦有論者認為為安國所鑄。

錢幣正面應為阿斯巴王的左側肖像。製作不精，幣圖漫漶。肖像風格類似石國時代稍晚的土王阿克坎尼亞(Akcania)。幣緣稍有突起，有些阿斯巴王鑄幣另有環或珠點圈圍繞幣圖。錢幣背面則為塔木加(古突厥語：𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga)，即王徽，或當時的城徽、族徽。形式為中間包裹數點的開口橢圓，其下接二曲線朝外側彎曲，其上接一曲線亦朝外彎曲，依橢圓中點數和上街曲線之方向區分型別。徽記周圍有時有粟特文。

石國(Tashkent)，即今塔什干，今烏茲別克首府。「tash」為突厥語中「石頭」之意，「kent」則為波斯語中「城」之意。唐人亦稱赭時、柘枝，另名提察赤、柘折等，為昭武九姓之一，約在今日烏茲別克塔什干一帶，大致位於費爾干納谷地的出口，此地位居河中地區與七河地區間的要道，也是陸上絲路北段的交通樞紐之一。中國史籍中最早見於《魏書·西域》，稱石國為石城或石邑，可見當時中原政權已對突厥、波斯文化有所了解。北史記載其地多桑桑、水稻、葡萄與馬匹，並且商業發達。唐代《新唐書·西域傳》則進一步描述，石國屬粟特支系，地廣物豐，城邑繁盛，並長期與唐朝保持朝貢往來。

唐玄奘(公元602–664年)西行求法時曾經過此地，在《大唐西域記》中稱其為「石國」。顯慶二年(公元657年)，唐朝因平定西突厥汗國，將其從屬石國納入安西都護府的管轄，成為唐在中亞經略的重要據點。此後，石國與唐朝的往來日益頻繁。公元712年，原統治費爾干納谷地的拔汗那王被奧瑪雅王朝呼羅珊總督屈底波驅逐，另立新君，拔汗那王則逃到庫車避難，並向唐廷求援。開元三年(公元715年)，北庭都護張孝嵩則擊敗吐蕃駐軍助其復國。約180年間，拔汗那諸王時有與唐廷和親並接受冊封，與阿拉伯人間斷進行拉鋸。大部逐漸為穆斯林所統治。天寶九年(公元750年)，高仙芝與石國偽和而偷襲，擒得石國王、黃姓突騎施可汗、吐蕃酋長、揭師王。石國王並獻俘長安處斬，引發昭武九姓不滿。石國王子聯絡黑衣大食(即阿拔斯王朝)，引兵入河中。天寶十年(公元751年)，高仙芝知此，決定先發制人，進兵怛羅斯，大敗而回。天寶十四年(公元755年)，安史之亂爆發，絲路隔斷，邊防崩潰，唐帝國徹底喪失對西域的影響力，葛邏祿汗國勢力漸起。此後石國與大食(阿拔斯王朝)勢力接觸頻繁，逐漸轉入其勢力範圍。

雖被認為是昭武九姓的粟特政權之一，但其實塔什干在伊斯蘭化前，上層以突厥文化及文字為主，下層商民才以粟特文化為主，從事農業、商業與手工業。隨著唐朝勢力衰退與伊斯蘭勢力東進，石國最終納入阿拉伯世界的版圖。至明清時期，漢文典籍中多以「達失干」稱之。