Item number: A3730

Reference number: Kann#1110、LM#734、Y#20、Wang#443

Year: AD AD 1905 (AH 1323)

Material: Silver

Size: 25.8 x 25.8 mm

Weight: approx. 10.5 g recorded

Manufactured by: Kashgar Mint

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2025

This specimen is a Guangxu Yuanbao three qian (or mace, mithqal) silver coin produced from AD 1905 onwards by the Mint Bureau operating under the authority of the Subordinate Pacification and Military Administration of Kashgar.

The obverse depicts the pattern adopted from machine-struck Guangxu Yuanbao issues: a five-clawed dragon disgorging a fireball. As the body is not fully coiled but displayed beneath the head, the type is also known as the “seated dragon”. The tail curves to the right. A border surrounds the design, and the edge bears denticulation.

The reverse bears the inscription “Guangxu Yuanbao”. The characters are to be read from top to bottom and from right to left, with a central pellet—originally perhaps a six-pointed star—placed among the four characters. A beaded circle separates the inner field from the outer legend. The upper segment bears the place of issue, “Kashgar”, and the lower segment the denomination “three qian”, in which “three” appears in its normal form; both are to be read right-to-left. To the right, read clockwise, appears the Old Uighur legend “كشغر اوچ مشقال” (Kashgar uch misqal), meaning “Kashgar, three qian”. On the left, read clockwise, is the legend “كن شوی” (kan hsui), denoting “Guangxu”. The four fields are divided by six-pointed stars, of which the upper-left star is positioned directly above the “亻” component of the character “什”. The coin has a raised rim and fine denticles.

The cultural sphere of northern Xinjiang has long formed part of the broader Central Asian system. By the eleventh century, and likely earlier, the Karakhanid dynasty within Xinjiang was already striking silver coinage whose monetary structure remained closely aligned with Central Asian practice. In southern Xinjiang, small-value transactions relied on copper pul, while larger payments were made with silver ingots or small silver pieces. Conventionally, fifty pul equalled one täŋgä, and one täŋgä was worth approximately one tael of silver. After the Qianlong Emperor pacified Xinjiang, the Qing administration sought to integrate local currency into the empire’s unified monetary system, abolishing the old pul and casting new Qianlong tongbao square-holed copper coins at Yarkand, Uchturpan and Aksu. Yet both the name pul and the local weight standards continued in use, producing a distinctive “red cash” system which nominally followed the metropolitan model while substantively preserving regional custom.

During the Tongzhi reign, Yakub Beg of the Khanate of Khoqand invaded southern Xinjiang and established the so-called Yettishahr (or “Seven Cities”) Khanate, also known as the “Happiness Khanate”. He was suppressed in AD 1876 by Zuo Zongtang and the Hunan Army. Early in the Guangxu reign, Zuo was appointed Commissioner for Military Affairs in Xinjiang. Even before the entire region had been recovered, he authorised the trial striking of silver coins at Lanzhou in Gansu under the name “Xinjiang”. After the reconquest, he ordered a strict prohibition on the continued circulation of Yakub Beg’s täŋgä silver coins, allowing them instead to fall out of use naturally through depreciation in the market so as to minimise monetary disruption. Subsequently, Aksu recast square-holed copper coins in the style of Qianlong tongbao, and produced xiangping and xiangyin silver currency, gradually restoring Xinjiang to the Qing Empire’s general silver-currency framework.

Despite institutional restoration, Xinjiang remained technically underdeveloped. During Yakub Beg’s rule, workshops at Kashgar, Aksu and Korla attempted the manufacture of firearms; late in the Qing period, a machine bureau was established at Ürümqi, using water power to operate machinery for repairing guns and striking copper cash. Yet these advancements had little immediate effect on the technology used for silver coin production in southern Xinjiang. Well into the late nineteenth century, local silver coins continued to be produced with hand tools and traditional methods. Their manufacture was crude, moulds were of poor quality and required frequent replacement, and numerous die varieties arose as a result. The scarcity of documentary evidence further complicates the study of Xinjiang’s silver coinage, making its analysis substantially more challenging than that of provincial issues in eastern China.

In AD 1892 (Guangxu 18), Li Zongbin, then the Kashgar Circuit Intendant, instructed the probationary magistrate Luo Zhengxiang to strike experimental silver dollars. Once issued, these coins were well received and readily accepted in the market. Nevertheless, the production continued to rely on traditional hand tools, with reverses retaining Islamic-style Uighur calligraphy and floral motifs, and the weight standard continued to follow the xiangping tael rather than the kuping tael used for metropolitan dragon dollars.

In AD 1905 (Guangxu 31), after Zhang Zhidong introduced Western machinery to Guangdong for striking Guangxu Yuanbao dragon dollars—which swiftly became the model for new-style silver dollars nationwide—the Kashgar Mint for the first time imitated the format and imagery of the provincial dragon dollar. It abandoned the Islamic-style reverse that had been employed for more than a decade and adopted the coiled-dragon design. This marked the first instance in which a Xinjiang silver dollar aligned, in name and appearance, with the standard provincial coinages. However, in the absence of large coining presses, Kashgar’s Guangxu Yuanbao dollars remained hand-struck. Their surfaces show uneven pressure, the edges are coarse or incomplete, and thickness varies—features typical of local workshop production. The weight standard continued to follow the xiangping system, resulting in actual weight and silver fineness that often differed from kuping-standard provincial dollars. The inscriptions likewise continued to employ Chinese and Old Uighur rather than Manchu or English.

物件編號: A3730

參考書目編號: Kann#1110、LM#734、Y#20、Wang#443

年代: 公元 1905 年 (回曆 1323 年)

材質: 銀

尺寸: 25.8 x 25.8 mm

重量: 紀載為約 10.5 g

製造地: 喀什道礦務鑄錢局

來源: 福君錢幣 2025

這是一枚由從屬分巡喀什噶爾兵備道的礦務鑄錢局於光緒三十一年(公元1905年)起所仿鑄之光緒元寶三錢。

銀幣正面為仿光緒元寶機製幣的圖樣，為一隻口吐火球的五爪蟠龍，由於其身軀並未盤繞，並陳於龍首下方，也稱「坐龍」。龍尾右擺。幣緣有環。幣稜為齒邊。

銀幣背面中央幣銘為「光緒元寶」，由上至下，由右至左對讀，四字中心有一圓點，原或為六芒星。以環繞的珠圈相隔，外側環列幣銘，上方為產地「喀什」，下方為面額「三錢」，「三」為小寫，均由右至左順讀。右側順時針為老維吾爾文「كشغر اوچ مشقال」(Kashgar uch misqal)，即「喀什三錢」。左側順時針為「كن شوی」(kan hsui)，即｢光緒｣。四個字段之間各以六芒星作為分隔，左上角的星位於「什」字「亻」偏旁的上方。幣緣有邊環及細齒。

新疆北疆地區文化長期以來與中亞地區為同一體系。早在十一世紀前後，新疆境內的喀喇汗王朝便已鑄造銀幣，其貨幣制度與中亞一帶保持密切連結。南疆地區長期使用以紅銅鑄成的普爾(pul)作為小額交易媒介，而重量較大的結算則依賴銀錠或銀片。傳統上，五十枚普爾折一天罡(tänggä)，而一天罡約值銀一兩。乾隆平定新疆後，為使新疆逐步融入帝國統一的錢幣架構，官方收毀舊制普爾，在葉爾羌與烏什、阿克蘇等地重新鼓鑄乾隆通寶方孔銅錢，但仍沿用了普爾之名與本地重量單位，使新疆在名義上遵從內地制度，在實際使用上則保留地方慣例，成為別具特色的「紅錢」。

同治年間，浩罕汗國阿古柏部入據南疆，在喀什噶爾建立「哲德沙爾汗國」或稱「洪福汗國」。由左宗棠率湘軍等團練，於公元1876年平定。光緒初年，左宗棠奉命督辦新疆軍務。未及完全收復全境之前，他已在甘肅蘭州以「新疆」名義試鑄銀幣。收復後，他又嚴令禁止阿古柏時期的天罡銀幣繼續使用，讓其在市場運作中自然折價退出，以減少幣制震盪。隨後，阿克蘇依乾隆制錢形式重鑄方孔銅錢，並製造湘平與餉銀等銀質貨幣，使新疆逐步重新回到清帝國的通用貨幣體系裡。

喀什、阿克蘇與庫爾勒在阿古柏時期曾設兵工廠試造火器，清末在烏魯木齊成立機器局，用水力推動機械修理槍炮並兼鑄銅錢，但這些進展未能立即改善南疆銀幣的鑄造技術。直到十九世紀末，新疆地方銀幣仍以手工機具與土法打製為主，鑄造粗糙、模具材質不佳，導致版模需要頻繁更新，造成大量版式差異。加以文獻記載極少，使研究新疆銀幣的難度遠高於內地各省。

光緒十八年(公元1892年)，時任喀什道員的李宗賓命令候補知縣羅正湘試鑄銀圓，發行後得到市場的接受和好評。但技術上繼續沿用傳統手工工具 ，背面仍採伊斯蘭風格的維文書法與花飾，重量單位仍採湘平，與採用庫平兩制的內地龍洋不同。

光緒三十一年(公元1905年)。在張之洞於廣東引入西法機器鑄造「光緒元寶」龍洋並迅速成為全國新式銀元典範後，喀什銀圓局首次仿照內地龍洋的版式與圖像，捨棄沿用十餘年的伊斯蘭式背紋，改用蟠龍圖案。這使新疆銀元在外觀與名稱上第一次與內地省造銀元保持一致。然而，由於缺乏大型壓幣機，喀什所產的光緒元寶龍洋仍以手工打製為主，幣面壓力不均、邊齒粗糙或不完整、厚薄不均等地方作坊特徵明顯。衡制仍以湘平為內部標準，實際重量與含銀量往往與內地庫平龍洋有所差異。文字依舊以漢文配合老維文，而非龍洋的滿文或英文。