Item number: A3932

Reference number: DCD#38-3

Year: AD 1428-1802

Material: Bronze

Size: 24.4 x 24.6 x 0.9 mm

Weight: 3.95 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a Zhidao yuanbao, modelled on the coin cast under Emperor Taizong, the second emperor of the Northern Song, using his final reign title, Zhidao. During his twenty-one years on the throne, Emperor Taizong employed five reign titles in succession.

The coin takes the form of the traditional round cash coin with a square central hole characteristic of the Sinosphere. The obverse bears the inscription Zhidao Yuanbao in regular script, read in clockwise order beginning from the top; the calligraphy is entirely derived from the emperor’s own hand. The outer rim is relatively broad. The coin is probably made of brass. The reverse is plain and without inscription.

Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Kuangyi, was the younger brother of the founding emperor, Zhao Kuangyin. Zhao Kuangyi’s succession is marred by the suspicion of fratricide, famously known as the “Candle Shadows and Axe Sounds” incident, coupled with several military failures during his northern campaigns against the Liao Dynasty. Consequently, he shifted his focus towards cultural endeavours, making it his mission to promote Confucianism. The two brothers, Emperor Taizu and Taizong, are often regarded as embodying the military and civil foundations of the Song Dynasty, respectively.

Emperor Taizu, during the Chunhua period (AD 990-AD 994), personally inscribed the calligraphy for the new currency “Chunhua Yuanbao,” making it the first coin in Chinese history to feature the emperor’s handwriting, known as “Imperial Script Money” (御書錢).

The coinage system of the Northern and Southern Song was complex. Among the officially circulating issues, both copper-alloy and iron coins were employed, functioning in tandem with paper money as a counterbalancing medium. Silver, meanwhile, gradually assumed an increasingly important role. Copper cash were issued with face values ranging from zhe-1 to zhe-10. Each circuit minted coins according to local demand: some used only copper cash, some only iron cash, and others a mixture of both. Calligraphic styles likewise varied, including regular script, clerical script, seal script, and Slender Gold, among others. In terms of material, the coinage is often described broadly as “bronze”, but in practice it was chiefly a ternary alloy of copper, tin, and lead. A Song-period compilation, the Zhujia Shenpin Danfa, includes the Rihua Zi Diangeng Fa, attributed to a Five Dynasties fangshi (Daoist technical specialist), which records a method for producing brass by treating red copper with calamine (lu ganshi). On this basis, there is also the view that brass-cast coins may have been used as “mother coins” (pattern coins for mould-making), though the matter requires further verification.

物件編號: A3932

參考書目編號: DCD#38-3

年代: 公元 1428-1802 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 24.4 x 24.6 x 0.9 mm

重量: 3.95 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是一枚「至道元寶」，為北宋的第二任皇帝宋太宗，使用其最後一個年號所鑄造。宋太宗統治的21年間，前後使用過五個年號。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統的方孔圓錢。正面錢文楷書「至道元寶」，自上而右旋讀，皆出自宋太宗的親筆書法。外輪較寬。幣材應為黃銅。背面光素無文。

宋太宗趙匡義為宋朝開國皇帝趙匡胤的弟弟，由於趙匡義的繼承深陷殺害哥哥的「燭影斧聲」嫌疑，和數次北伐遼國的軍事失敗，使他轉而推行文化工作以發揚儒學為己任。宋太祖和太宗兩兄弟被視為一武一文，奠定宋朝的基礎。宋太祖更在淳化年間(公元990至994年)，親手書寫新貨幣「淳化元寶」書法，為中國歷史上第一種皇帝親筆書寫的「御書錢」。

兩宋幣制複雜，正式行用的幣材便有銅鐵兩種，配合紙幣相權。白銀則逐漸佔有重要地位。銅幣面額折一至折十不等。各路依需求各自鑄錢，有些只用銅錢，有些只用鐵錢，有些銅鐵兼用。字體則楷書、隸書、篆書、瘦金體等不一而足。幣材則多以青銅為主，實則為銅錫鉛三元合金。大約宋代所輯錄的《諸家神品丹法》，其中便有收錄五代方士所著《日華子點庚法》，以赤銅和爐甘石點煉黃銅。因此，亦有黃銅鑄錢為母錢之說，具體待考。