Item number: A3680

Reference number: LZ-DMQP#1650

Year: AD 1621-1627

Material: Brass

Size: 24.4 x 24.2 x 0.9 mm

Weight: 3.05 g

Manufactured by: Bao Yuan Mint Bureau of Ministry of Works, Beijing

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a small cash coin cast under the reign title “Tianqi” by the Ming Emperor Xizong.

The coin follows the traditional form of round coins with a square central hole common in the Sinosphere. The obverse bears the inscription “Tianqi tongbao,” read clockwise from top to bottom and right to left. In the character “Qi” (啟), the initial stroke of the “hu” (戶) radical is written as a horizontal line. In the character “Tong” (通), the dot of the “マ” radical extends upward beyond the horizontal stroke, a feature known as the “raised-mouth Tong.” In the character “Bao” (寶), the “fou” (缶) component is written as “ěr” (尔), giving the form “寳,” while the two horizontal strokes of the “bei” (貝) radical are disconnected from the vertical line on the right.

The reverse is plain and uninscribed. However, the obverse calligraphy resembles that of the Tianqi tongbao coins bearing the character “工” above the square hole on the reverse. Therefore, this specimen was likely produced by the Ministry of Works’ Baoyuan Mint and is accordingly referred to as the “Gong-hand” type.

After ascending the throne, Emperor Xizong ordered the supplementary casting of the “Taichang Tongbao,” the reign-title coin of his late father, who had died suddenly before its issuance. In AD 1621, the first year of Tianqi, he officially commenced the casting of the “Tianqi Tongbao.” Earlier dynasties had emphasised precision in minting—what was called “neither sparing copper nor labour”—to prevent private counterfeiting. The earliest Tianqi issues weighed 1 qian 3 fen per piece, with fifty-five coins equal to one tael of silver, and were relatively well made; some fine examples were referred to as baisha qian (“white-sand coins”).

However, in the second year of Tianqi (AD 1622), following the defeat at Guangning and the collapse of the Liaodong frontier, the imperial treasury fell into acute deficit. In the autumn of that year, the Ministry of Revenue established the Baoquan Mint, which operated alongside the Ministry of Works’ Baoyuan Mint and various provincial mints to expand output. The government also experimented with casting large-denomination coins for fiscal revenue, while the weight of ordinary coins was reduced to approximately 0.7 qian per piece. Minting soon spiralled out of control: local authorities and private workshops proliferated, and even merchants were permitted to lease minting contracts. Contemporary sources record that “mints were opened throughout the empire, and heavy taxes were levied upon coin profits.” Officials and civilians alike sought to exploit the enormous profit margin from casting copper cash, resulting in rampant debasement. Mint workers, motivated by gain, lightened coins or reduced their metallic purity. Whereas the proper alloy ratio was seven parts copper to three parts lead, by the third year of Tianqi it had fallen to half copper and half lead; in some areas, coins contained as little as 20–30% copper, with the remainder composed of lead and slag. Such coins were brittle and easily broken, with a hundred pieces scarcely filling an inch when stacked. They were widely rejected in the market, and an unofficial record even notes that merchants and residents of Suzhou collectively refused to accept Tianqi coins for nearly a year. The surviving varieties of “Tianqi Tongbao,” with their great inconsistency in size, weight, and reverse inscriptions, clearly illustrate the disintegration of the Ming monetary system.

The reduction in weight and deterioration in alloy were partly caused by rising copper prices. In the early Ming period, one hundred jin of copper was worth five taels of silver; during the Wanli reign, the price rose to ten taels and five qian, and by the Tianqi years, yellow copper had reached twelve taels per hundred jin, while red copper fetched fourteen taels and three qian. Escalating material costs, coupled with official profit-seeking, resulted in further debasement. Meanwhile, under the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and his faction, the government imposed extortionate levies across the empire. Farmers abandoned their land, and any drought or flood quickly led to famine, sparking peasant uprisings and worsening the fiscal crisis.

During the Tianqi reign, silver assumed a dominant role in the economy. Since the fiscal reforms of Zhang Juzheng’s “Single Whip System,” taxes, salaries, and military stipends had all been converted to silver payments. Following the influx of foreign bullion after the Wanli reign, China effectively entered a silver-based monetary regime. At the beginning of Tianqi, the exchange rate stood at roughly six hundred copper coins to one tael of silver; by the third year, it had risen to one thousand to one in Sichuan, and in some regions to as high as eight hundred to one, reflecting the rapid depreciation of copper currency. This “heavy-silver, light-copper” phenomenon further deepened the dual-currency divide. The court attempted to remedy the situation through increased coin production, but rising copper costs and debasement rendered these efforts futile.

As for paper money (baochao), it had long since become defunct. Although introduced under the Hongwu Emperor and once widely used, it had by the late Wanli reign fallen entirely out of circulation. During the Tianqi era, it survived only as a nominal instrument for bookkeeping within the Ministry of Revenue. While some officials proposed reissuing paper currency to fund military expenses, public confidence had long since evaporated, and the idea was abandoned.

Emperor Xizong, whose personal name was Zhu Youjiao, reigned from AD 1621 to 1627 as the fifteenth emperor of the Ming dynasty. The son of Emperor Guangzong and Lady Wang, he ascended the throne at the age of fifteen after his father’s sudden death. Intelligent but introverted, he lacked political acumen and soon fell under the domination of Wei Zhongxian, whose clique monopolised the court. Gentle by temperament, the emperor tolerated their excesses, leading to increasing corruption. His chief personal passion was carpentry and mechanical design; he established a workshop within the palace and personally crafted furniture, vehicles, and crossbows, earning the epithet “the Carpenter Emperor.” Despite his disengagement from politics, he initially attempted to restore fiscal order and strengthen defences against the Jurchens, though his efforts were thwarted by external wars and internal factional strife between the Donglin scholars and eunuch faction.

During his short reign, the Ming Empire faced severe decline, marked by natural disasters, heavy taxation, and social unrest. Wei Zhongxian and the wet-nurse Madam Ke wielded absolute power, persecuted upright officials, and even built temples in their own honour across the realm. Though Emperor Xizong became aware of their abuses, his weakness and isolation prevented him from acting. In AD 1627, he died from a medical overdose at the age of twenty-three and was succeeded by his younger brother Zhu Youjian, known as the Chongzhen Emperor. His reign, though brief, epitomised the Ming dynasty’s descent into political decay and economic collapse on the eve of its fall.

物件編號: A3680

參考書目編號: LZ-DMQP#1650

年代: 公元 1621-1627 年

材質: 黃銅

尺寸: 24.4 x 24.2 x 0.9 mm

重量: 3.05 g

製造地: 工部寶源局，北京

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是一枚明熹宗以其年號「天啟」所鑄行之小平錢。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統的方孔圓錢。錢面錢文「天啟通寶」，由上至下，由右至左對讀。。「啟」字「戶」旁首筆為橫劃。「通」字「マ」旁之點劃向上超出橫劃，稱「翹嘴通」。「寶」字「缶」旁寫為「尔」，呈「寳」，「貝」旁兩橫與右側豎劃不相連。

錢幕光素無文，但正面錢文與錢幕錢穿上方有一「工」字之天啟通寶的正面錢文類似，仍可能出自工部寶源局，故稱「工手」。

明熹宗即位後，補鑄先帝因猝崩而未鑄之年號錢「泰昌通寶」，並於天啟元年(公元1621年)正式開鑄「天啟通寶」，早期各朝鑄錢多力求精整，所謂「不愛銅、不惜工」，唯恐民間私鑄，「天啟通寶」初鑄時每文重一錢三分，以五十五文折銀一錢，製作尚稱精整，有稱「白沙錢」者；至天啟二年，因廣寧兵敗，遼東盡失，九邊防線重整，軍費匱乏。天啟二年秋，戶部另設「寶泉局」，與工部的「寶源局」以及各省局並行鑄錢，意在擴充產量，並嘗試鑄大錢以斂財，小錢錢重也減為每文僅七分許。此後鑄錢逐漸失控，各地廣開錢局，增開爐座，地方與民間私鑄也仍然禁之不絕，朝廷甚至允許商人承包鑄局，史載「開局遍天下，重課錢息」，官民為獲鑄錢之溢利開始濫鑄銅錢。各鑄局人員為牟利舞弊，減重鑄錢以充數，或降低銅成色。原應為「銅七鉛三」者，天啟三年已降為「銅鉛各半」，部分地區制錢甚至僅含二至三成銅，其餘皆為鉛砂，輕脆不堪，擲地即碎，百文不盈寸。商民不樂用，野史甚至有蘇州商民約定拒用天啟錢近一年的紀載。存世的天啟通寶版式、重量、大小、背文的雜亂，正是反映錢法的動搖。

銅錢的減重與成色惡化亦與銅價上漲有關。明初每百斤銅值銀五兩，萬曆年間已漲至十兩五錢，至天啟年間黃銅每百斤達十二兩，紅銅更高達十四兩三錢。原料漲價與官鑄逐利並行，使錢質愈發惡劣。除此之外，天啟年間起勢的，以魏忠賢為首的閹黨，於各地橫徵暴斂，農民逃荒普遍，稍有水旱災，便引起飢荒。於是民變四起，財政困難愈增。

白銀在天啟年間的地位顯著提升，自張居正「一條鞭法」以來，各項賦稅、俸祿、軍餉皆折銀徵收。萬曆後海外白銀大量流入，中國逐步形成「銀本位」體制。天啟初年錢銀比價約六百文兌一兩，至三年四川已漲至千文一兩，部分地區甚至高達八百文一兩，可見銅錢價值急劇下跌。此種「銀重錢輕」的局面使貨幣體系的分裂愈加嚴重，朝廷試圖以增鑄應對，但因銅價上漲與錢質惡化而難奏效。至於寶鈔，至萬曆後已完全廢弛。天啟年間僅存戶部帳面登記之用，市場早無人接受，名存實亡。朝中雖有建議重行紙幣以濟軍需者，但因民間信用全失而作罷。

明熹宗朱由校，年號天啟，是明朝第十五位皇帝，公元1621至1627年間在位。父親是光宗朱常洛，母親為王氏。萬曆四十八年(公元1620年)，光宗即位僅一個月便駕崩，年僅十五歲的朱由校被擁立登基。熹宗少年時聰明好學，但性格內向，不善於與人交往。即位後，他雖想治理國家，卻很快被宦官魏忠賢所控制，政權落入宦官與權貴之手。熹宗本性溫和，對魏忠賢等人多採取縱容態度，也因此讓朝政漸漸旁落。熹宗最大的興趣是木工與機械。他在宮中設有木作房，親自打造傢俱、機關與武器，甚至製作車輛和弩機。據史書記載，他每天在木作房裡敲打木料，常常忘記朝政，被譏為「木匠皇帝」。然而，其並非全然無能，天啟初年也曾想整頓財政、修築軍備，派人北征後金，試圖恢復國力。只可惜外有遼東戰事，內有東林黨與宦官勢力的激烈鬥爭，使他難以真正掌握朝局。

在天啟年間，明朝國勢已顯衰敗，連年災荒、賦稅沉重，百姓困苦。魏忠賢與乳母客氏專權，排除異己、打壓言官，甚至在全國各地建生祠奉祀自己，權勢一時無人能敵。熹宗雖對此有所察覺，但性格懦弱，無力扭轉局勢。天啟七年(公元1627年)，他因服藥不慎去世，年僅二十三歲，由弟朱由檢繼位，是為崇禎帝。