Item number: A4056

Reference number: Yan#1213; DCD#215-4

Year: AD 1078-1085

Material: Bronze

Size: 24.9 x 24.9 x 0.9 mm

Weight: 3.95 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This coinage is the Yuanfeng Tongbao (元豐通寶), an era name coin cast during the reign of Shenzong (神宗), the sixth emperor of the Northern Song (北宋), using his second era name. Emperor Shenzong (神宗) reigned for eighteen years, during which two era names were employed.

The physical morphology of the currency conforms to the traditional round coin with a square central aperture characteristic of the Sinospheric cultural sphere. The obverse features the legend Yuanfeng Tongbao (元豐通寶) rendered in running script. The four characters are intended to be read in a clockwise circumscription starting from the top. The calligraphic style is notably large in scale. Within the composition, the character Yuan (元) exhibits a slight inclination toward the right; meanwhile, the horizontal stroke, simplified from the ma (マ) component of the character Tong (通), is distinctly thick and elongated. The reverse of the coin is plain and devoid of any inscriptions.

Mintage during the Song dynasty employed the sand-casting method, although the specific procedural details remain obscure. Referencing Tiangong Kaiwu (天工開物) by Song Yingxing (宋應星) of the Ming (明) dynasty, it is inferred that craftsmen first hand-carved a master mother coin. This was used to create a specific quantity of mother coins within sand moulds, which finally served as the patterns for casting currency for circulation. Through the continuous casting process, mother coins would sustain minute wear due to pressure from the moulding sand. This gradually affected the dimensions and the sharpness of the characters, resulting in thickened strokes and rounded transitions within the letterforms. In cases of private minting—where circulating coins were used as mothers for further sand casting—the degree of shrinkage and blurred inscriptions became even more severe. Driven by profit, private minters often produced coins that were thinner and lighter than official currency.

If the moulds were not properly aligned after joining, or if they were subjected to impact, a misaligned axis of the design might occur. After breaking the moulds to retrieve the solidified coin tree, craftsmen would detach the coins one by one and stack them, passing a bamboo or wooden strip through the central holes to facilitate simultaneous filing of the edges. If the strip was incorrectly positioned during this process, defects such as a blurred hole or a lozenge-shaped hole would manifest. However, if the lozenge-shaped hole is regular and symmetrical, with defined borders along each angled line, it may have been intentional; some scholars speculate such features were used for religious rituals.

Zhao Xu (趙頊), known as Emperor Shenzong (神宗), reigned from AD 1067–1085. During the Xining (熙寧) era, faced with fiscal difficulties and pressure from frontier threats, he drew lessons from the failure of the Qingli (慶曆) Reforms and appointed Wang Anshi (王安石) to implement the New Policies. These measures aimed to achieve national wealth and military strength through institutional reform. Wang Anshi (王安石) proposed the philosophy of “taking from the people and using for the people,” promoting the Green Sprouts Law, the Market Exchange Law, the Equitable Tax Law, and the Land Survey and Equitable Tax Law. He sought to expand state intervention and dominance over the economy, reformed the labour service system with the Hired Service Law, and advocated for water conservancy projects to boost agricultural output, forming a comprehensive state-led economic restructuring plan. Furthermore, token large denominations were cast to supplement the deficiency in national expenditure.

During the Yuanfeng (元豐) era, the court of Shenzong (神宗) re-evaluated the previous reform policies. Wang Anshi (王安石) twice departed from the chancellorship, and fierce debates between the reformist and conservative factions led to the weakening or abolition of certain decrees. Nevertheless, Shenzong (神宗) remained committed to expanding finances and reorganising the legal and bureaucratic systems. He supported Neo-Confucianism and practical statecraft to cultivate talents capable of responding to the shifting political landscape. Ultimately, before his death, Emperor Shenzong (神宗) designated Sima Guang (司馬光) of the conservative faction to assist in governance, marking the conclusion of the reforms.

Coinage during the two Song (宋) dynasties adopted a bimetallic system of copper and iron, with distinct circulation zones. Iron coins were primarily circulated in frontier circuits or frontline areas such as Shaanxi (陝西), Guangnan (廣南), Sichuan (四川), and Hedong (河東), with occasional administrative changes; in a few regions, copper and iron circulated concurrently. This system was implemented for three reasons: firstly, the domestic lack of copper resources; secondly, to prevent copper coins from flowing into the territories of rival northern regimes such as the Western Xia (西夏), Liao (遼), and Jin (金); and thirdly, to supply military needs locally to avoid exhausting the central treasury. Consequently, the Song (宋) court initially cast iron coins, and later, due to the heavy weight and inconvenience of iron currency, paper money prototypes known as Jiaozi (交子) and Huizi (會子) emerged as currency.

The calligraphic styles on these coins vary, encompassing regular script, clerical script, seal script, and slender gold script, among others. The inaugural simultaneous issuance of coins in multiple calligraphic styles began with the Chunhua Yuanbao (淳化元寶) of Emperor Taizong (太宗). The first issuance of “matched coins” (duiqian)—referring to series of coins with identical dimensions and designs but different calligraphic styles—likely commenced with the Tiansheng Yuanbao (天聖元寶) of Emperor Renzong (仁宗).

物件編號: A4056

參考書目編號: Yan#1213; DCD#215-4

年代: 公元 1078-1085 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 24.9 x 24.9 x 0.9 mm

重量: 3.95 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是北宋的第六任皇帝神宗，以其第二個年號所鑄造的年號錢「元豐通寶」。神宗在位期間十八年，先後使用過兩個年號。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統之方孔圓錢。錢面錢文「元豐通寶」行書。四字由上至右旋讀。字體較大。「元」字微微向右傾斜；「通」字「マ」部件簡略成的橫劃較粗長。錢背光素無文。

宋代鑄錢採用翻砂法，但具體工藝流程不詳。參考明代宋應星所撰《天工開物》，應為工匠手刻製作雕母后，再於砂模中翻製出一定數量的母錢，最後再以這些母錢鑄造出行用錢。在不斷翻鑄的過程中，母錢會受到砂模中型砂的擠壓，從而有微小的磨損。從而逐漸影響尺寸的大小和字口的清晰程度，形成筆劃變粗，字口轉折處變圓的效果。若是錢幣來自以行用錢為母錢再翻砂鑄造的私鑄者，錢幣縮水及文字模糊的程度會更加嚴重，由於私鑄者為追求利益，私鑄錢幣往往較行用錢更加輕薄。

合範後若未妥善對齊，或是遭撞擊等，可能會導致圖樣的偏軸。破開錢範取出已凝固的銅錢樹後，工匠會將錢幣一一摘斷並相疊，以竹木條貫穿中央，以利於一併磨銼。若貫穿時位置不正，即會出現花穿或菱穿現象。但若花穿形狀規整、對稱，穿邊各折線均有廓，則可能為有意造成，一些學者猜測用於宗教相關的儀式。

宋神宗趙頊，公元1067-1085在位，熙寧年間，面對財政困難與邊患壓力，汲取慶曆變法失敗的教訓，任用王安石推行新政，意圖透過制度改革實現富國強兵。王安石提出「取之於民，用之於民」的理念，推動青苗法、市易法、均輸法與方田均稅法，嘗試擴大國家對經濟的介入與主導，並以募役法改革勞役制度、提倡水利興修以提升農產，形成一套以政府主導的經濟重整方案。並鑄虛值大錢以補國用不足。在元豐年間，神宗朝重新檢討先前變法政策，王安石亦兩度離相，改革派與守舊派激烈爭論，導致部分法令遭到削弱或廢止。然而，神宗仍致力於擴充財政、整頓法制與官僚體系，並支持新儒學與經世致用之學，以培養能應變時局之人才。最終宋神宗病逝前指定舊黨司馬光輔政，標誌著改革的結束。

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。錢幣字體則楷書、隸書、篆書、瘦金體等不一而足。首度同時發行多書體錢幣，自太宗淳化元寶始，而首度發行對錢，即形制相仿但書體不同的系列錢幣，大概自仁宗天聖元寶始。