Item number: A4663-1、A4663-2

Reference number: Kann#208; L&M#465; Y#73.3

Year: AD 1908

Material: Stainless Steel

The results after XRF testing (A4663-1)

The results after XRF testing (A4663-2)

Size: 38.5 x 38.5 x 39.8 mm (A4663-1), 38.5 x 38.5 x 31.2 mm (A4663-2)

Weight: 381.1 g (A4663-1), 307.1 g (A4663-2)

Manufactured by: Central Mint Tianjin Branch

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2008

These two coin dies were manufactured in the 34th year of the Guangxu reign (AD 1908) by the Tientsin Mint of the Ministry of Revenue and Expenditure (Duchibu) for striking Guangxu Yuanbao silver coinage of the seven-mace and two-candareen denomination.

The working face of each die presents an incuse, mirror image of the struck coin. The obverse die face features at its centre a coiled, five-clawed dragon poised amidst clouds and emitting a flaming pearl from its jaws. Circumscribed along the upper margin is the English inscription ‘34th YEAR OF KUANG HSÜ’, designating the regnal year ‘Guangxu 34th Year’, whilst the lower margin bears ‘PEI YANG’, denoting the place of mintage, with the textual fields separated by circular pellets.

The reverse die face displays at its centre the four Chinese characters ‘Guangxu Yuanbao’ (光緒元寶). At the very centre, the Manchu inscription reads ‘Badarangga Doro’ (representing ‘Guangxu’), flanked from left to right by ‘yuwan boo’ (representing ‘Yuanbao’). These inscriptions are encircled by a beaded ring, around which the upper margin is inscribed in Chinese with ‘Made in Peiyang’ (北洋造), whilst the lower margin indicates the face value as ‘Kuping seven mace and two candareens’ (庫平七錢二分), with the textual sections likewise demarcated by pellets.

Apart from the engraved designs on their faces, the two dies used to strike the obverse and reverse share an essentially identical structural form, save that the shank of the obverse die is longer whilst that of the reverse die is shorter. Along the outer perimeter of each die face lies a recessed channel termed the rim gutter (or rim cavity); displaced metal forced into this groove under striking pressure forms the raised protective rim along the edge of the finished coin. Extending between the periphery of the die face and the die neck is a minute angled facet known as a bevel (or chamfer), which serves to mitigate edge stress concentration during coining and thereby minimises the risk of die cuds or edge fracture. Situated immediately below the chamfer is the die neck, a slightly tapered or extended short cylindrical segment. Beneath the neck is the die shoulder, which flares gradually to meet the full width of the die body. The shank itself consists of a substantial, heavy cylindrical block engineered to absorb the mechanical impact of striking, with lateral recesses or keyways cut into its flank to provide a mortise-and-tenon securing mechanism within the coining press.

During the late Qing period, the term ‘Beiyang’ did not denote a formal provincial division, but rather originated from the post of the ‘Minister of Trade for the Northern Ports’ (Beiyang Tongshang Dachen, commonly styled the Beiyang Minister), established during the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns in the wake of the Second Opium War. By convention held concurrently by the Viceroy of Zhili, this official exercised supreme authority over foreign affairs, Westernisation endeavours, and coastal defence across the three provinces of Zhili, Fengtian, and Shandong. Within the monetary system of the late Qing empire, China had long functioned under a parallel silver-copper standard, wherein uncoined silver bullion and cast copper cash circulated independently without a legally mandated, fixed parity, a situation exacerbated by the decentralisation of minting prerogatives amongst competing provincial authorities. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, foreign machine-struck silver dollars—most notably Spanish Carolus (‘pillar’) dollars and Mexican ‘Cap and Ray’ (‘eagle’) pesos—flooded into coastal and riverine treaty ports in immense volumes; traded by count and offering uniform fineness, they rapidly displaced traditional weighed silver (sycee). Although Baoding was the provincial capital of Zhili, modern industries and commercial financial hubs were concentrated in Tientsin. In an effort to resist foreign incursions upon national currency sovereignty, alleviate the prevailing stringency in market coin supply, and secure military payrolls, the Viceroy of Zhili, acting in his capacity as Beiyang Minister, drew upon Tientsin’s existing ordnance manufacturing base to import Western coining machinery and commence the minting of milled coinage, following the earlier initiatives in Jilin and Guangdong.

In the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign (AD 1867), the Beiyang Machinery Bureau (the East Bureau of the Tientsin Arsenal) was established along the Jiajiagu Road east of the city of Tientsin, constituting one of the three principal arsenals of the Qing dynasty. In the 13th year of the Guangxu reign (AD 1887), the arsenal imported coining presses from the British firm Greenwood & Batley to conduct trial strikings of square-holed cast-style copper cash; this endeavour was soon halted due to rising copper prices and mounting operational losses. At the close of the 21st year of Guangxu (early AD 1896), the enterprise was reorganised as the General Directorate of the Beiyang Machinery Bureau. In the seventh lunar month of the 22nd year of Guangxu (AD 1896), it adapted its existing machinery to produce fractional silver coins, subsequently procuring additional machinery to strike full-sized crown coins, thus marking the origin of modern Western-style minting in northern China; however, during the Boxer Uprising in the 26th year of Guangxu (AD 1900), the facilities were abandoned and destroyed amidst the armed turmoil surrounding the siege of the Austro-Hungarian Legation. In the 28th year of Guangxu (AD 1902), Yuan Shikai assumed the Viceroyalty of Zhili and established a new facility at Xiyaowa in the Hebei district of Tientsin, designated the ‘Beiyang Silver Dollar Head Mint’. Following the imperial decree issued by the Board of Revenue (Hubu) in the 32nd year of Guangxu (AD 1906) to consolidate regional mints, it was renamed the ‘Zhili North Branch Mint of the Board of Revenue’, and in the 33rd year of Guangxu (AD 1907), in the wake of central ministerial reorganisation, it was rechristened the ‘Tientsin Mint of the Ministry of Revenue and Expenditure’ (Duchibu Tientsin Mint). The mint suspended silver dollar production during the Xuantong reign (AD 1909–AD 1911) and, in the early years of the Republic of China, was integrated into the Central Mint as its ‘West Plant’, tasked exclusively with striking copper coins. The third institution was the central government’s directly administered ‘General Head Mint for the Casting of Silver and Copper Coinage’ (the Hubu/Duchibu Central Mint), established along Dajing Road in Tientsin in the 29th year of Guangxu (AD 1903). Commencing operations in the 31st year of Guangxu (AD 1905), this mint asserted centralised nationwide minting authority during the Xuantong era, was sacked and burned by mutinous soldiers during the Beijing mutiny in the first year of the Republic (AD 1912), and was reconstructed in the third year of the Republic (AD 1914) as the ‘East Plant’ dedicated to striking silver dollars.

In its denominational structure, the silver coinage produced by the Beiyang Machinery Bureau between the 22nd and 24th years of the Guangxu reign departed from the weight-based Kuping system widely adopted by other provinces following Guangdong’s model, pioneering instead a counted decimal system based on the yuan (dollar) and jiao (dime) through a complete five-coin set comprising One Dollar, Five Dimes, Two Dimes, One Dime, and Half Dime. Nevertheless, owing to the improvised and rudimentary equipment available during its formative phase within an arsenal, when the various denominations struck on trial in the 22nd year of Guangxu (AD 1896) were issued as soldier payrolls, the one-dollar denomination was rejected by native banking houses (qianzhuang) and commercial markets on account of deficient silver fineness. The authorities promptly withdrew and melted down the issue, rendering surviving specimens of this year exceptionally rare. Furthermore, although the Beiyang Silver Dollar Mint bore the appellation of a ‘silver dollar’ mint, its operations from the 28th year of Guangxu (AD 1902) coincided with an acute domestic shortage of low-value copper cash and considerably higher profit margins for striking copper tokens than for silver dollars. In practice, the mint operated with the mass production of 10-cash and 20-cash copper tokens as its principal commercial venture; silver coin production was sporadic and intermittently halted. In most years, in accordance with the regulatory provisions promulgated by Prince Qing (Yikuang), the mint operated primarily by accepting silver bullion consignments from private merchants to strike coins on their behalf; for instance, the mintage of over 1.4 million pieces of the seven-mace and two-candareen silver dollars in the 29th year of Guangxu (AD 1903), as recorded in the Maritime Customs trade reports, was entirely produced from merchant-supplied bullion.

From the 25th year of the Guangxu reign (AD 1899), Beiyang silver coinage officially abandoned decimal-count denominations such as the yuan and jiao in compliance with imperial monetary regulations, reverting to the weight-based Kuping tael system. In the 26th year of Guangxu (AD 1900), the facilities were abandoned and ruined amidst the Boxer Uprising. In the 29th year of Guangxu (AD 1903), the mint was re-established at Xiyaowa under the name Beiyang Silver Dollar Mint and resumed mintage. By the 33rd year of Guangxu (AD 1907), the seven-mace and two-candareen silver coins struck by the Duchibu Tientsin Mint exhibited a distinct variety characterised by noticeably slender, fine dragon contours.

The standard 34th-year variety struck in the 34th year of the Guangxu reign (AD 1908) continued the design layout established by the 25th-year Guangxu Yuanbao; however, through prolonged operational cycles and repeated die-dressing, numerous sub-varieties emerged. One noteworthy variety is the ‘short tail spine’ (or short dorsal spine) variety, in which the central barb protruding from the tail of the profile dragon is conspicuously shorter and more blunted than on regular strikes. Another prominent variety is the ‘crosslet 4’ variety, in which the terminal strokes of the numeral ‘4’ in the date exhibit cross-like horizontal serifs. Furthermore, based on calligraphic execution in the English date inscription, specimens can be classified into varieties such as that bearing a cross-stroke below the letter ‘H’, the ‘small 4’ variety distinguished by a diminished numeral ‘4’, and dozens of minor varieties arising from subtle font alterations across successive working dies; there even exists an experimental trial piece struck in pure copper displaying reverse die impressions on both faces, with an experimental edge milled with intermittent linear incuse grooves. The emergence of these extensive varieties and the vast volume of the 34th-year mintage stemmed from the historical transitional necessities of the early Republican era. Following the founding of the Republic of China, the manufacturing capacity for the Sun Yat-sen ‘Founding of the Republic’ commemorative dollar struck by the Nanjing Provisional Government remained severely constrained. In the third year of the Republic (AD 1914), when the Beiyang Government promulgated the National Currency Regulations to prepare for the mintage of Yuan Shikai portrait dollars, the Ministry of Finance—facing a prolonged currency shortage prior to the mass production of the new coinage—issued a ministerial decree in August of AD 1914 temporarily obliging all provincial branch mints to utilise Guangxu 34th-year Beiyang steel dies to restrike large silver dollars as ‘central surrogate standard coinage’. It was officially decreed that all governmental fiscal revenues and disbursements, as well as banknote redemption reserves across all domestic banks outside Shanghai, were to be conducted strictly in Beiyang silver dollars. Upon its reconstruction, the Tientsin Mint alone produced tens of millions of coins, complemented by coordinated mintage across provincial facilities in Nanjing and Wuchang; during the Republican period, the total volume of restruck Guangxu 34th-year dragon dollars reached approximately 86 million pieces, producing subtle die variations and slight adjustments in silver fineness (statutorily defined at 89%, though circulating pieces averaged approximately 88%). The total volume of late Qing silver dollars actively circulating in the commercial market likely approached 200 million yuan.

As a consequence of the Qing government dispatching the Beiyang Army southward to quell the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, reinforced by the coin’s subsequent official designation as a surrogate national currency under the Republic, Beiyang silver coinage transcended its original northern regional confines, circulating extensively throughout the Yangtze River basin and the south-eastern littoral. This widespread dispersion established the practical circulation network that enabled the subsequent Yuan Shikai ‘National Coinage’ to displace foreign silver dollars and assorted late-Qing provincial issues, thereby consolidating a uniform national silver dollar standard. Nevertheless, because the abolition of the tael in favour of the dollar (feiliang gaiyuan) was not thoroughly executed following the 1911 Revolution, the transactional value of silver dollars remained subordinated to the fluctuating exchange quotations of fictitious accounting taels, such as the Shanghai yangli rate, leaving the legal tender status of the silver dollar precarious. It was not until the 22nd year of the Republic (AD 1933), when the Nationalist Government promulgated the Silver Standard Coinage Mintage Regulations and formally abolished the silver tael, commissioning the Central Mint in Shanghai to strike Sun Yat-sen ‘junk dollars’ exclusively, that both uncoined silver bullion and former Qing coinages met their definitive legal demise. Yet this structural reform was almost immediately undermined by the international silver crisis triggered by the United States Silver Purchase Act of AD 1933. Within a matter of months, domestic silver outflows exceeded 200 million yuan, inducing severe deflation and widespread economic stagnation. This crisis compelled the Nationalist Government in November of AD 1935 to implement the comprehensive Fabi (Legal Tender) reform, nationalising all silver reserves and terminating specie convertibility, whereupon precious-metal standard coinage departed permanently from active monetary circulation.

物件編號: A4663-1、A4663-2

參考書目編號: Kann#208; L&M#465; Y#73.3

年代: 公元 1908 年

材質: 不鏽鋼

XRF分析結果(A4663-1)

XRF分析結果(A4663-2)

尺寸: 38.5 x 38.5 x 39.8 mm (A4663-1), 38.5 x 38.5 x 31.2 mm (A4663-2)

重量: 381.1 g (A4663-1), 307.1 g (A4663-2)

製造地: 度支部造幣津廠

來源: 福君錢幣 2008

這是兩件面額為七錢二分的光緒元寶銀幣模具，於光緒34年(公元1908年)，由度支部造幣津廠鑄造。

模面為該幣成品的鏡像。錢幣正面模面中央是一條雲中盤捲的五爪蟠龍，口吐焰珠。上緣環列英文「34th YEAR OF KUANG HSÜ」，即年號「光緒三十四年」，下緣環列「PEI YANG」，即製造地「北洋」，字段間以圓點分隔。

錢幣背面模面中央是「光緒元寶」四字，最中央滿文「ᠪᠠᡩᠠᡵᠠᠩᡤᠠ ᡩᠣᡵᠣ」即「光緒」，其餘由左至右為「ᠶᡠᠸᠠᠨ ᠪᠣᠣ」，即「元寶」。以珠圈環繞，上緣環列「北洋造」，下緣環列面額「庫平七錢二分」，字段間以圓點分隔。

壓印正背面的兩個模具，形制除模面外基本一致，唯正面模具模身較長，背面模具模身較短。其模面外緣均有一圈凹溝，稱為緣槽（Rim Gutter / Rim Cavity），金屬受擠壓流入此溝槽後，形成錢幣外側凸起的保護邊環（Rim）。模面邊緣延伸至模頸之間，有一的微小的傾角削面，稱為倒角（Bevel / Chamfer），有助於在壓印時降低邊緣應力集中，減少邊緣崩裂（Cud）的風險。模頸則位於倒角下方，為稍作收窄或延伸的短圓柱段。模頸下方為模肩，稍微傾斜並擴增至模身的寬度。模身則為厚重的圓柱，為承受衝擊的主體，側邊則有凹槽，提供固定於機械上的榫卯結構。

清末「北洋」一詞並非正式行政區劃，而是源自第二次鴉片戰爭後清廷於咸豐、同治年間設立之「北洋通商大臣」，依慣例由直隸總督兼任，統轄直隸、奉天、山東三省涉外洋務與海防事務。在晚清貨幣體系中，中國長期處於銀錢平行本位狀態，白銀與制錢各自獨立流通而缺乏法定固定比價，加之鑄幣權分散於各省各局。十九世紀中葉以降，外國機制銀洋如西班牙雙柱、墨西哥鷹洋等大舉流入沿海沿江商埠，因其枚數計價、成色劃一的便利性迅速排擠傳統秤量銀兩。直隸省會雖在保定，但新式洋務實業與金融樞紐皆集中於天津，為了抵制外洋侵蝕利權、解決市面錢荒並籌措軍餉，兼任北洋大臣的直隸總督遂依託天津既有的軍火工業基礎，繼吉林、廣東之後，引進西式造幣機器，開鑄機制幣。

同治六年（公元1867年），北洋機器局（天津機器局東局）創辦於天津城東賈家沽道的，該局原為清代三大兵工廠之一。光緒十三年（公元1887年）曾自英國格林活鐵廠引進造幣機試造方孔制錢，旋因銅價上漲虧損停工；光緒二十一年底（公元1896年初）改稱總理北洋機器局，於光緒二十二年（公元1896年）七月因陋就簡利用舊造錢機試製角洋，隨後添購設備壓製主幣，成為北方近代西式造幣廠之始，但該局於光緒二十六年（公元1900年）庚子事變中，在拳民對奧匈帝國使館的圍攻下被波及而毀棄。光緒二十八年（公元1902年）袁世凱接任直隸總督，於河北西窯窪另闢新址設立「北洋鑄造銀元總局」，光緒三十二年戶部裁併造幣廠時改名「直隸戶部造幣北分廠」，光緒三十三年又隨部制改革更名為「度支部造幣津廠」，宣統年間停鑄銀圓，至民國初年併入造幣總廠稱為「西廠」，專事製造銅元。至光緒二十九年（公元1903年），清廷整頓幣制，建立由中央直轄之「鑄造銀錢總廠」（戶部／度支部造幣總廠），該廠於設於天津大經路，光緒三十一年開工。歷經宣統年間統攬全國鑄幣權，民國元年（公元1912年）北京兵變遭亂軍焚燬，至民國三年（公元1914年）重建為「東廠」專造銀圓。

北洋機器局所造光緒元寶，在面額計制上，於光緒二十二年至二十四年開鑄之初，打破了全國各省普遍依循廣東的庫平計重制，率先採用「圓、角」計數制，發行壹圓、五角、二角、一角及半角一套五枚；然而由於創辦之初附屬於兵工廠且設備未臻完備，光緒二十二年試鑄之大小銀圓當作軍餉發放時，壹圓主幣因成色不足而遭錢莊市面拒收，隨即被官方回收回爐重造，使得該年份銀幣存世極為罕見。此外，北洋銀圓局雖然冠以「銀圓」之名，但自光緒二十八年開辦以來，適逢民間小額制錢奇缺、鑄造銅元利潤遠高於銀幣，局方實質上長期以大量鑄行當十、當二十銅元為營利主業，銀幣生產時續時停，多數年份甚至是依照慶親王奕劻所定章程，接受民間商民繳納銀錠委託代鑄，例如海關報告所載光緒二十九年七錢二分銀幣一百四十餘萬枚，即全係商民備料代造。

光緒二十五年（公元1899年）起，北洋銀幣因應清廷規範，正式放棄圓、角等計數面額，回歸計重制。光緒二十六年（公元1900年），因旋即爆發的庚子事變，廠房被毀棄。光緒二十九年（公元1903年），北洋銀圓局於西窯窪成立，恢復鑄造。至光緒三十三年（公元1907年），度支部津廠生產的七錢二分銀幣，版式龍體線條相對纖細。

光緒三十四年（公元1908年）北洋造的標準三十四年版延續二十五年版光緒元寶圖式，但在長期打製與多次修模過程中衍生出諸多細版。其一為「短尾刺版」，其背面側身龍尾部中央伸出的一根龍刺或脊刺較常規版明顯短促平截；其二為「十字4版」，其紀年數字「4」的筆劃末端帶有如十字架般的橫向出頭襯線；此外，依據英文紀年書體筆劃可更細分出字母「H」下方帶有交叉一劃版、數字「4」字體較小的小4版，以及因更換不同模具所留下的字體微異等多達數十種亞版，甚至留存有兩面皆為背模、邊道試驗性軋印帶有間斷直線凹槽的紫銅試鑄幣。光緒三十四年版之所以版別林立且數量浩繁，在於民國初年的歷史過渡需求。民國建立後，南京臨時政府所鑄孫像開國紀念幣產能有限，民國三年（公元1914年）北洋政府公布《國幣條例》籌鑄袁像銀幣，在袁大頭正式量產流通之前的青黃不接之際，財政部於民國三年八月明令各省造幣分廠暫律採用光緒三十四年北洋造鋼模重鑄大銀圓，作為「中央代用主幣」，並規定官款出入與除上海以外之各銀行兌換券皆以北洋銀元為準；天津造幣廠重建之初即有數千萬枚產量，加之南京、武昌等省廠協鑄，民國時期重鑄的光緒三十四年龍洋達八千六百萬枚左右，各廠在翻製工作模時的細節差異與成色微調（法定八九成，實際流通多約八八成）。實際在市場上流通的晚清銀元總額可能達兩億元。

北洋銀幣因清政府調動北洋軍南行平定辛亥革命，加以民國建立後官方指定為代用國幣，打破了北方地域的限制，足跡遍及長江流域與東南沿海，替後續袁像「國幣」掃除外洋與前清雜洋、建立全國劃一的銀元本位奠定了基礎。然而，由於辛亥革命後未能徹底施行「廢兩改元」，銀元價值在實務上長期受制於上海「洋釐」等虛銀兩行情報價，主幣地位並不穩固。直至民國二十二年（公元1933年）國民政府頒布《銀本位幣鑄造條例》實施廢兩改元，改由中央造幣廠專鑄孫像船洋，銀兩與前清舊幣才在法律上正式壽終正寢。但這項改革隨即遭遇美國公元1933年《購銀法案》引發的國際白銀暴漲風暴，短短數月間國內存銀外流達兩億元以上，造成嚴重的通貨緊縮與百業蕭條，迫使國民政府於公元1935年11月全面實施法幣改革，宣布白銀國有並取消現金兌換，貴金屬主幣就此退出了流通。