Item number: 3449

Year: AD 1834-1835

Material: Copper

Size: 22.6 x 22.4 x 0.6 mm

Weight: 2.1 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This coin is a contemporary imitation of the Zhaowu tongbao small cash coins cast by Wu Sangui, Emperor of the Wu Zhou regime, in the seventeenth year of the Kangxi reign (AD 1678), when he adopted the reign title Zhaowu. It was likely produced either in Vietnam or by private furnaces within Qing territory.

The obverse inscription reads Zhaowu tongbao in regular script, arranged vertically and read from right to left. In the character bao, the fou radical is written in the variant form 尔, producing the shape 寳; in the bei component, the two final dots originate from points set close together, forming an “eight-legged” configuration known as ba zu bao. The calligraphic style resembles that of the Yuanlong tongbao coins cast by the rebel forces of Nông Văn Vân during the Minh Mệnh era in Vietnam, hence this variety is described as having a “Yuanlong hand”. Its copper, however, differs from the pale brass tone commonly associated with such “Yuanlong-hand” pieces and instead exhibits a reddish-copper colour.

On the reverse, to the left of the square hole appears the Manchu ᠪᠣᠣ (boo), meaning “treasure”, and to the right ᠶᡠᠸᠠᠨ (yuwan), meaning “source”. These mintmarks match those found on coins produced by the Ministry of Works’ Baoyuan Mint after the Shunzhi reign. The piece therefore cannot be a product of Wu Sangui’s rebel regime, and should be regarded as an imitation or private casting.

Wu Sangui (AD 1612–1678), originally a prominent Ming general stationed in Liaodong, later facilitated the Qing entry through Shanhai Pass, aiding in the defeat of Li Zicheng’s forces, and subsequently surrendered to the Qing court. He was enfeoffed as the Prince of Pingxi and tasked with governing Yunnan. To stabilise the southwest, the early Qing established the Three Feudatories system, granting Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi, and Geng Jingzhong significant military, administrative, and fiscal autonomy as feudatory princes. However, the growing power of the feudatories posed a threat to the central Qing authority. In the early Kangxi period, the Qing court resolved to abolish the feudatories, prompting Wu Sangui to launch the Revolt of the Three Feudatories in AD 1673 under the banner of “opposing the Qing and restoring the Ming.” In AD 1677, as the revolt faltered, Geng Jingzhong and Shang Kexi surrendered to the Qing. In AD 1678, to bolster morale, Wu Sangui proclaimed himself Emperor, establishing the Wu Zhou regime with the era name Zhaowu and designating Hengzhou as its capital. Despite its claim to restore the Ming, the Wu Zhou regime was primarily centred on the Wu family, relying on military control and coin minting to sustain its finances. Wu Sangui died later that year, succeeded by his grandson Wu Shifan, but the regime rapidly collapsed, extinguished by Qing forces in AD 1681. Wu Sangui and the Wu Zhou regime remain controversial in historical discourse, viewed alternately as symbols of rebellion or as figures of transitional significance.

The uprising led by Nông Văn Vân erupted in AD 1833 and constituted the largest-scale resistance movement in the northern highlands during the early Thiệu Trị period of the Nguyễn dynasty. Nông Văn Vân, the tusi of Thái Nguyên, belonged to a hereditary lineage that had exercised authority over local administration from the late Lê period through the early Nguyễn era. After achieving national unification, the Nguyễn court implemented policies of centralisation that curtailed tusi power, reorganised the management of mineral resources, and increased taxation and corvée obligations, thereby provoking widespread discontent among Miao, Tày–Nùng and other upland communities, as well as among Chinese miners. Earlier that same year, Lê Duy Lương, a descendant of the Lê dynasty, rose in rebellion in northern Tonkin in an attempt to restore the former realm. In Gia Định, Lê Văn Khôi also took advantage of the unsettled situation to revolt. During the government’s suppression operations in the south, the pursuit of Lê Văn Khôi’s brother-in-law, Nông Văn Vân, became the immediate catalyst for his own armed resistance. The successive outbreaks of rebellion in multiple regions destabilised the Nguyễn regime. The forces commanded by Nông Văn Vân rapidly seized strategic positions in Thái Nguyên, Cao Bằng, and Lạng Sơn, posing a grave threat to the dynasty’s governance of the northern frontier. During the Minh Mệnh reign, the court repeatedly dispatched troops to suppress the insurgency, and in AD 1835 they finally located and killed the fugitive Nông Văn Vân in the mountains, after which the various insurgent groups gradually collapsed.

物件編號: A3449

年代: 公元 1834-1835 年

材質: 紅銅

尺寸: 22.6 x 22.4 x 0.6 mm

重量: 2.1 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

此錢仿鑄吳周皇帝吳三桂於康熙十七年(公元1678年)，建元昭武時所鑄之「昭武通寶」小平錢。可能為越南或清朝民間私爐所仿鑄。

錢面錢文為「昭武通寶」楷書，由上至下、由右至左對讀。「寶」字「缶」旁從「尔」，呈「寳」，「貝」旁末二點筆之筆首貼近，呈「八」形，稱「八足寶」。錢文風格類似越南明命年間叛軍農文雲(Nông Văn Vân)所鑄「元隆通寶」，故稱「元隆手」。但銅色與元隆手常見之泛白黃銅相異，呈紅銅色。

錢幕錢穿左側有滿文「ᠪᠣᠣ」(boo)，即「寶」，右側「ᠶᡠᠸᠠᠨ」(yuwan)即源。錢文同清順治以後工部寶源局所出之錢，當非清叛臣吳周所鑄，應為仿鑄或私鑄。

吳三桂(公元1612–1678年)，原為明末遼東駐防大將，後於山海關開關引清兵入關，協助清軍攻滅李自成，遂降清廷，得封平西王，鎮守雲南。清初為穩定西南，設三藩制，分別封吳三桂、尚可喜、耿精忠為藩王，給予其軍政自主與稅收特權。然三藩勢力日益坐大，構成對中央政權之威脅。康熙初年，清廷決意撤藩，吳三桂遂於公元1673年以「反清復明」為號召起兵，發動三藩之亂。公元1677年，因戰事不利，耿、尚氏先後降清。公元1678年，吳三桂為振奮軍心，自立為帝，建號「周」，年號昭武，定都衡州，史稱吳周政權。吳周政權雖號稱復明，實則以吳氏家族為核心，以軍事控制地方、鑄行錢幣以支撐財政。吳三桂於同年病逝，其孫吳世璠繼位，但政權迅速敗退，至公元1681年為清軍所滅。吳三桂及吳周政權被後世視為亂臣逆子或時代過渡的象徵，頗具爭議。

農文雲起義爆發於公元1833年，是阮朝紹治初年北部山區最大規模的反抗。太原土司農文雲(Nông Văn Vân)出身於自黎末沿至阮初長期掌控地方政務的世襲家族，然阮朝統一後推行中央集權，削弱土司權力、整併礦產經營並加重賦稅與徭役，引發苗族、侗族等山區群體及華人礦工普遍不滿。同年稍早，黎朝後裔黎維良於北圻起事，試圖復國。南方嘉定則有黎文𠐤(Lê Văn Khôi)乘隙起事，官軍圍剿之際，又因搜捕黎文𠐤妹婿農文雲而使其起兵反抗。多地先後起事，動搖阮廷政局。農文雲所率部眾迅速奪取太原、高平、諒山等地要隘，形成對阮朝北疆治理的重大威脅。阮廷於明命年間持續增兵剿撫，最終於公元1835年在山間擊斃隱匿的農文雲，諸勢力陸續瓦解。