Item number: A4514

Year: AD 1226

Material: Bronze

Size: 28.6 x 28.6 x 1.4 mm

Weight: 5.95 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a bronze coin minted during the early reign of the fifth emperor, Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty, in the Baoqing era (AD 1225 to AD 1227). The coin bears the inscription “Great Song Yuanbao,” reflecting the state name “Great Song.” Emperor Lizong, Zhao Yun, used a total of eight era names throughout his forty-year reign.

The coin is of the typical square-holed design. On the obverse side, the four Chinese characters “Great Song Yuanbao” are engraved in regular script, arranged in a clockwise direction. “Great Song” represents the state name of the Song Dynasty. On the reverse side, there is a blurred “Two” year mark at the bottom, indicating that the coin was minted in the 2nd year of the Baoqing era (AD 1227).

During the reign of Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty, he successfully allied with the Mongols to jointly defeat and destroy the Jin Dynasty in the 1st year of the Duanping era (AD 1234). However, in the aftermath, the Southern Song was left to face the continued Mongol invasions alone. After Kublai Khan eventually conquered the Southern Song, his Tibetan monk subordinate, Yang Lianzhenjia, desecrated Emperor Lizong’s tomb, Yongmu Mausoleum, and took his skull to create a Kapala bowl, a ritual object in Tibetan Buddhism.

It was not until the founding of the Ming Dynasty by Zhu Yuanzhang, who expelled the Mongols, that Emperor Lizong’s skull was reburied with imperial honours in Nanjing. Later, it was relocated to its original resting place at Yongmu Mausoleum in Lin’an.

During the Song Dynasty, in addition to bronze coins, one notable feature was the widespread circulation of iron coins, a phenomenon rarely seen in other dynasties. This practise arose primarily for two reasons: first, the domestic shortage of copper resources; and second, the need to prevent copper coins from flowing into the hands of northern rival states, such as the Western Xia, Liao, and Jin. As a result, the Song court initially began minting iron coins, and later introduced early forms of paper money, such as Jiaozi and Huizi, as alternative currency.

物件編號: A4514

年代: 公元 1226 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 28.6 x 28.6 x 1.4 mm

重量: 5.95 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是南宋第五任皇帝宋理宗，於繼位之初的寶慶年間(公元1225至1227年)，依照國號所鑄造的「大宋元寶」，材質為青銅。宋理宗趙昀在位四十年間，曾先後使用過八個年號。

錢幣形制為典型的方孔錢。錢幣正面按順時針順序，依序以楷書書法鐫刻漢字「大宋元寶」四字，「大宋」乃是宋朝的國號。下方則有一個「二」記年符號，代表這枚錢幣是在寶慶二年(公元1226年)鑄造。

宋理宗在位期間，於端平元年(公元1234年)成功聯合蒙古夾擊消滅金朝，但後續南宋被迫單獨面對蒙古持續的入侵。忽必烈後續成功消滅南宋以後，麾下西藏僧人楊璉真珈盜掘安葬宋理宗的永穆陵，取其頭顱作為藏傳佛教的法器「嘎巴拉碗」。直到朱元璋驅逐蒙古人建立明朝以後，方才以帝王禮葬將宋理宗的頭顱安葬於南京，後遷葬至臨安的永穆陵舊址。

兩宋時期的錢幣以青銅為材料外，其特色尚有大規模的鐵幣流通，為其他朝代少見的現象。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，使得兩宋朝廷先是鑄造鐵錢，後來更出現紙幣雛形的「交子、會子」作為貨幣。