Item number: A3853

Year: AD 1361-1375

Material: Bronze

Size: 22.5 x 22.6 x 0.7 mm

Weight: 2.7 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is the copper cash coin known as Dazhong Tongbao, first cast by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty, prior to his assumption of the imperial title. It was minted in Zhiyuan 21 (AD 1361), when Zhu Yuanzhang, holding Nanjing and bearing the title Duke of Wu, exercised effective control over the city.

The coin conforms to the traditional round cash coin with a square central hole characteristic of the Sinosphere. The obverse inscription, Dazhong Tongbao, is written in regular script and is read vertically from top to bottom and right to left. In the character tong (通), the initial dot of the chuò (辶) radical is rendered as a double dot. The coin exhibits a diffuse and worn fabric, and above the central square hole there appears to be a mark resembling either a crescent indentation or an armour-like abrasion; this feature has not been recorded in earlier catalogues.

During the Zhizheng reign of Emperor Shun of Yuan, the Yuan court suffered from prolonged fiscal imbalance. Central control over the provinces steadily weakened, while repeated breaches of the Yellow River, the spread of epidemics, and widespread devastation of agricultural production exacerbated social distress. Despite these conditions, the corvée and tax burdens borne by the lower strata of society were not alleviated. The paper currency system inherited from earlier periods deteriorated rapidly under these circumstances. Since the Zhongtong and Zhiyuan reigns, a monetary system centred on paper notes had depended on strict limits on issuance and coordination with in-kind taxation; however, from the late Zhiyuan period onwards, excessive issues of jiaochao were used to meet military and administrative expenses. This led to a collapse in currency value, sharp inflation, and a shift in private transactions towards silver, copper cash, or barter. As a result, state-issued legal tender became largely nominal, further undermining the fiscal capacity of the regime.

Amid this structural crisis, river-control projects served as an immediate trigger for widespread popular uprisings and the emergence of armed groups, most notably those associated with the White Lotus tradition and the subsequent Red Turban movement. Against a backdrop of pervasive economic hardship in local society, networks formed around religious and charitable organisations. Zhu Yuanzhang rose to prominence within this turbulent environment. His early power base lay primarily in the Jianghuai region, an area where commodity circulation and the parallel use of silver and cash had been relatively well developed since the Song period, thereby providing a comparatively stable economic and fiscal foundation for his later state-building efforts.

In Zhizheng 21 (AD 1361), Zhu Yuanzhang was invested by the Han-Song regime with the title Duke of Wu. He established the Baoyuan Mint at Yingtian and issued coins bearing the inscription Dazhong Tongbao. The accounting system defined 400 cash as one string, 40 cash as one tael, and 4 cash as one mace, roughly corresponding to the denominations of jiaochao still in circulation at the end of the Yuan. Another tradition holds that coins inscribed Yingtian Tongbao were cast earlier, in Zhizheng 17 (AD 1357), though no surviving specimens are known. After defeating Chen Youliang in Zhizheng 24 (AD 1364), Zhu Yuanzhang established the Baoquan Mint in Jiangxi and restructured the Dazhong Tongbao coinage into five denominations: xiaoping, zhe’er, zhe san, zhe wu, and dang shi. The reverse of these coins bears the name of the issuing mint, while denominations of zhe’er and above also indicate their face value on the obverse. Stylistically, earlier issues are characterised by squarer and more robust calligraphy, whereas later issues display more elongated and regular forms.

With the proclamation of the Hongwu reign in Hongwu 1 (AD 1368), Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne and emphasised the political objective of “restoring order from chaos”. Institutionally, he sought to rectify the perceived abuses of the late Yuan. In monetary and fiscal policy, he advanced the principle of discouraging the use of gold and silver while promoting agriculture and restraining commerce. In the early Ming, copper coinage was resumed to restore the order of everyday small-scale transactions, with Hongwu Tongbao being cast alongside Dazhong Tongbao. At the same time, a paper currency system under the name Da Ming Baochao was implemented, aiming to establish a state-directed fiscal structure in which paper notes served as the monetary standard, copper as the medium of exchange, and in-kind payments as the basis of taxation. Zhu Yuanzhang’s attitude towards silver circulation, however, remained cautious and ambivalent. Although official edicts repeatedly prohibited the private use of silver, actual tax collection and large-scale transactions could not be entirely separated from its function. Under the promotion of a paper-note standard, copper coins such as Dazhong Tongbao and Hongwu Tongbao were intermittently banned and resumed. Zhu Yuanzhang died in Hongwu 31 (AD 1398). Although not explicitly recorded in historical sources, Dazhong Tongbao appears to have ceased production after Hongwu 8 (AD 1375), when the Baoyuan and Baoquan mints were temporarily closed. From the Hongwu period onwards, the continued over-issuance of paper notes without effective redemption mechanisms led to a rapid decline in their purchasing power. Combined with shortages of copper, the market increasingly reverted to valuation in commodities and silver, revealing a widening gap between institutional design and economic reality.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in AD 1328 and died in AD 1398. He came from an impoverished peasant family in the Huai region and experienced famine and epidemics in his youth, losing most of his family members. He once entered a Buddhist monastery as a novice and spent years drifting at the lowest levels of society. As the Yuan polity deteriorated and popular uprisings proliferated, he joined the Red Turban forces, beginning his career under Guo Zixing. Through his ability to win popular support and his flexible military and political strategies, he steadily expanded his power, captured Jiqing (Nanjing), and established a secure base of operations. He subsequently defeated major rivals such as Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, completed the unification of the south, and in Zhizheng 28 (AD 1368) proclaimed himself emperor at Yingtian, founding the Ming dynasty with the reign title Hongwu. During his reign, he devoted himself to reconstructing post-war order, implementing a series of centralising and social reform measures, including the rectification of the bureaucracy, universal household registration, the organisation of taxation and labour obligations, and the establishment of the military household and lijia systems, while maintaining control through severe laws and punishments. In his later years, his suspicious and harsh temperament led to repeated political purges, exerting a lasting influence on the political climate of the early Ming.

物件編號: A3853

年代: 公元 1361-1375 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 22.5 x 22.6 x 0.7 mm

重量: 2.7 g

來源: 斯賓客拍賣行 2023

這是開創明朝的朱元璋，於未稱帝時，在至元二十一年(公元1361年)，以吳國公之名號據有南京時，始鑄的「大中通寶」銅錢。

錢幣型制為漢文化圈傳統的方孔圓錢。錢面錢文楷書「大中通寶」，自上而下，自右而左對讀。「通」字「辶」旁首點寫為雙點。錢幕夷漫，錢穿上方似有月痕或甲痕，前譜未見。

元順帝至正年間，元廷財政長期失衡，中央對地方的控制力逐漸鬆動，加以黃河屢決、疫癘流行，農業生產大受破壞，社會底層承擔的賦役卻未隨之減輕。元代既有的鈔法亦在此背景下急速惡化。中統、至元以來以紙鈔為主的貨幣體系，應仰賴嚴格的發行節制與實物徵收相配合；然至元末年以降，朝廷濫發交鈔以應軍費與行政支出，導致幣值崩跌，物價飛漲，民間交易轉而依賴白銀、銅錢或實物交換，國家法定貨幣名存實亡，進一步削弱了政權的財政能力。

在此結構性危機之中，以治河為導火線，各地民變與武裝集團紛起，以白蓮教及繼之而起的紅巾軍運動為尤。在地方社會面臨的普遍經濟困境的背景下，以宗教、救濟組織形成網絡。朱元璋正是在這樣的亂局中崛起，其早期勢力範圍主要位於江淮地區，該區自宋以來即是商品流通與銀錢並用較為成熟之地，為其後來建立政權提供了相對穩定的經濟與賦稅基礎。

至正二十一年(公元1361年)，朱元璋得韓宋封為吳國公，於應天設寶源局鑄錢，文曰「大中通寶」。以四百文為一貫，四十文為一兩，四文為一錢，大約對應的是元末仍在流通的交鈔的單位。另有一說於至正十七年(公元1357年)曾鑄「應天通寶」，但未見實物流傳。至正二十四年(公元1364)，朱元璋擊敗陳友諒後，於江西設寶泉局，改大中通寶為五品：「小平、折二、折三、折五、當十」，錢背並有各局局名，折二錢以上的更加有面額。以風格分，大致為建元錢字體較方、較粗獷，建元後字體較長，較工整。

至洪武元年(公元1368年)建元稱帝，朱元璋在政治上強調「撥亂反正」，在制度設計上則力圖矯正元末積弊。在貨幣財政政策上有著「去金銀、尚農抑商」的理念。明初一方面恢復銅錢鑄造，以重建日常小額交易秩序，鑄「洪武通寶」，與大中通寶一併鑄行。另一方面推行以大明寶鈔為名的紙幣制度，試圖建立一個由國家主導、以鈔為本位，銅為貿易媒介，實物繳納為稅務基礎的財政體系。然而，朱元璋對白銀流通的態度顯得矛盾而謹慎：官方法令中屢次申禁私用白銀，實際稅收與大宗交易卻難以完全脫離銀的功能。而因鈔本位的推行，大中通寶與洪武通寶等銅錢時禁時鑄，直至洪武三十一年(公元1398年)，朱元璋逝世。史籍未載，但大中通寶應自洪武八年(公元1375年)暫罷寶源、寶泉二局後便停鑄。洪武年間起，隨著寶鈔持續超發、缺乏回收機制，其購買力迅速下降，加以銅料的缺乏，市場逐漸轉向實物與白銀計價，形成制度設計與經濟現實之間的落差。

朱元璋，生於公元1328，公元1398年卒。出身淮右貧寒農家，幼年歷經饑荒與疫病，家人多亡，曾入寺為僧，輾轉流離於社會底層。元末政局敗壞、民變蜂起之際，他投身紅巾軍，自郭子興麾下起家，憑藉善於籠絡人心與靈活的軍事、政治手腕，逐步擴張勢力，先後奪取集慶（南京），建立穩固根據地。其後擊敗陳友諒、張士誠等主要對手，完成南方統一，並於至正二十八年(1368年)在應天稱帝，建國號「明」，年號「洪武」。在位期間，朱元璋致力於重建戰後秩序，推行一系列中央集權與社會整頓措施，包括整肅官僚、編戶齊民、推動賦役制度與軍戶、里甲制度，並以嚴刑峻法維持統治。其晚年多疑嚴酷，屢興大獄，對明初政治風氣影響深遠