Item number: A3766

Year: AD 1119-1125

Material: Bronze

Size: 24.3 x 24.2 x 1.0 mm

Weight: 3.6 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This coin is a Xuan He Tong Bao small cash coin, struck in bronze. It was minted during the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song dynasty, from the first to the seventh year of Xuanhe (AD 1119–1125). The small cash coin represented the lowest monetary denomination.

The coin conforms to the traditional round coin with a square central aperture characteristic of the Han cultural sphere. The obverse inscription, “Xuan He Tong Bao,” is rendered in clerical script and is read vertically from top to bottom and right to left. The characters are relatively large, with all four positioned close to the central aperture and set away from the outer rim, a layout convention referred to as ji guo or yi kuo. The characters he (和) and tong (通) adjoin the central aperture, while xuan (宣) connects to the outer rim. The outlines of both the inner aperture and the outer rim are indistinct, and the reverse is plain and without inscription.

During the Song dynasty, a dual currency system composed of copper and iron coinage was implemented, with distinct circulation regions. Iron coins were primarily circulated in frontier areas such as Shaanxi, Guangnan, Sichuan, and Hedong, although these zones were occasionally subject to adjustment. In some regions, copper and iron coins circulated concurrently. This arrangement arose due to several factors: first, the domestic shortage of copper ore; second, the need to prevent copper coinage from flowing into rival regimes such as Western Xia, Liao, and Jin; and third, to supply military needs locally and alleviate pressure on the central treasury. Consequently, the Song government initially minted iron coins. However, due to the heavy weight and inconvenience of iron currency, early forms of paper money—namely jiaozi and huizi—emerged as alternatives.

Emperor Huizong of Song, personal name Zhao Ji, reigned from AD 1103 to 1135 and was the eighth emperor of the Northern Song dynasty. Renowned for his refined taste in art and calligraphy, he developed the distinctive “Slender Gold” script and secured a lasting legacy in Chinese art history. However, his political leadership was marked by incompetence and decadence. He placed excessive trust in corrupt officials such as Cai Jing and Tong Guan, leading to a deterioration of state affairs. During the Zheng He era, he entered into the Maritime Alliance with the Jin dynasty to jointly eliminate the Liao dynasty, a strategy that ultimately provoked a Jin invasion of the south. In the first year of the Jingkang era (AD 1126), the capital Bianjing fell, and the following year Emperor Huizong, along with his successor Emperor Qinzong and numerous members of the imperial family, was captured and taken north to Wuguocheng. This event marked the fall of the Northern Song dynasty. Emperor Huizong later died in captivity.

Werner Klaus Burger (AD 1936–2021), a German numismatist, was renowned for his pioneering research on Qing dynasty coinage. Born in Munich, he completed his studies in Sinology at the University of Munich in AD 1962. In 1963, he went to teach German at Fudan University in Shanghai. However, during the Cultural Revolution in 1965, after the closure of academic institutions, he was reassigned to tend sheep in Suzhou. Subsequently, he relocated to Hong Kong, where he devoted himself entirely to numismatic research. In AD 1974, he completed the first doctoral dissertation on Chinese numismatics, which was later expanded into his magnum opus, Ch’ing Cash, a chronologically organised catalogue of Qing dynasty coinage. His collection encompassed a comprehensive range of Qing coins and related archival materials. Burger passed away in Hong Kong in 2021 at the age of 85. His contributions to the field of numismatics remain profoundly influential.

物件編號: A3766

年代: 公元 1119-1125 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 24.3 x 24.2 x 1.0 mm

重量: 3.6 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

此錢為「宣和通寶」小平錢，青銅質。於北宋徽宗宣和元年至宣和七年(公元1119至1125年)間鑄造。小平錢為貨幣之最小單位。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統的方孔圓錢。錢面錢文為「宣和通寶」隸書。自上而下、自右而左對讀。字體較大，四字均近穿離輪，稱為「寄郭」或「倚廓」。「和、通」字接穿；「宣」字連輪。錢幕輪廓漫漶，光素無文。

兩宋時期的錢幣採銅-鐵二元制，區分行用區域，各自流通。鐵錢多行用於陝西、廣南、四川、河東等邊境諸路或前線區域，時有更動，少數地區銅鐵並行。之所以如此，一來是國內的銅礦資源缺乏；二來是防止銅錢流入競爭對手，諸如西夏、遼和金等北方政權；三為就地供給軍需，以免拖垮中央財政。使得兩宋朝廷先是鑄造鐵錢，後更因鐵錢質重，攜帶不便，出現紙幣雛形的「交子、會子」作為貨幣。

宋徽宗趙佶(公元1103至1135年在位），北宋第八位皇帝。他精於書畫，創「瘦金體」，留名於中國藝術史。然其政治昏庸，寵信蔡京、童貫等人，國政敗壞。政和年間與金國締結海上之盟，聯金滅遼，終致引金兵南侵。靖康元年(公元1126年)汴京陷落，翌年徽宗與欽宗等人被俘北遷五國城，北宋滅亡，徽宗並卒於幽禁。