Item number: A3817

Year: AD 943-957

Material: Bronze

Size: 22.6 x 22.6 x 0.7 mm

Weight: 2.45 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a bronze Tangguo Tongbao coin first cast in the first year of the Baoda reign (AD 943) by Li Jing, the second ruler of the Southern Tang, during China’s Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

The coin conforms to the traditional Sinosphere form of a round coin with a square central perforation. The obverse inscription reads Tangguo Tongbao in seal script, arranged vertically and read from top to bottom, right to left. In the character guo (國), the initial horizontal stroke of the huo (或) component is short and does not connect with the enclosing wei (囗) element, a variant conventionally termed the “short-horizontal guo”. The reverse is plain and uninscribed. This variety is not recorded in earlier numismatic catalogues.

The Tangguo Tongbao belongs to the earliest group of so-called “paired coins” in the history of Chinese coinage, namely issues produced in more than one calligraphic style. Three script variants are known for the Tangguo Tongbao: seal script, regular script, and clerical script.

The Southern Tang was founded in AD 937 by Li Bian, who claimed descent from the Tang imperial house. Its territory encompassed the most prosperous Jiang–Huai region, with its capital established at Jinling (present-day Nanjing). The Southern Tang ranked among the most prolific coin-producing regimes of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and possessed a highly developed economy and culture. However, following the death of Li Bian in AD 943, the state faced sustained aggression from the rising Later Zhou in the north, leading to a gradual decline in its power. Li Jing, who ascended the throne in AD 943, sought to finance prolonged military campaigns by successively casting the Tangguo Tongbao, Datang Tongbao, and Baoda Yuanbao. In AD 958, after suffering military defeat, Li Jing relinquished the imperial title, adopted the designation of “ruler of the state,” and acknowledged the Later Zhou as the legitimate dynasty. In AD 975, Li Yu, the grandson of Li Bian—later renowned to posterity as the “Poet Emperor of a Thousand Ages”—surrendered to Zhao Kuangyin, the founder of the Song dynasty, who had usurped the Later Zhou throne, thereby bringing the history of the Southern Tang to an end.

物件編號: A3817

年代: 公元 943-957 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 22.6 x 22.6 x 0.7 mm

重量: 2.45 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是一枚鑄造於中國歷史上的五代十國時期，南唐第二位統治者李璟於保大元年(公元943年)，始鑄的「唐國通寶」青銅錢。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統的方孔圓錢，正面錢文為「唐國通寶」篆書，由上而下，由右至左對讀。「國」字「或」旁首橫較短，未與「囗」旁相接，稱「短橫國」。錢幕光素無文。前譜未錄。

唐國通寶為中國錢幣史上的第一批「對子錢」，即擁有一種書法字體以上的錢幣。唐國通寶的字體有篆書、楷書和隸書三種版本。

南唐由自稱為唐朝後裔的李昪建立於公元937年，其疆域控制最為富饒的江淮地區並定都於金陵(今南京)。南唐的鑄幣量為五代十國的佼佼者，擁有發達的社會經濟文化。然而自公元943年，李昪駕崩以後，南唐面臨北方的新興之秀後周的侵略，國勢日益衰弱。公元943年即位的李璟，為補連年兵亂的軍資，先後鑄行唐國通寶、大唐通寶、保大元寶。公元958年，李璟兵敗，去帝號，改稱國主，奉後周為正朔。公元975年，李昪的孫子李煜，即以「千古詞帝」文學成就為後人所知的李後主，向篡奪後周政權的宋太祖趙匡胤投降，就此結束南唐的歷史。