"Zhou Yuan Tongbao" is the currency of the five dynasties and ten countries in the mainland, which was minted in the second year of Zhou Shizong Xiande (955 AD), imitating the Tang Dynasty "Kaiyuan Tongbao" money coinage, and the face text "Zhou Yuan Tongbao".
After Zhou Shizong Chai Rong succeeded to the throne, in order to raise military salaries and appease the people, at the beginning of his accession to the throne, he ordered the destruction of the Buddha statues, destroyed the bronze statues in the Buddhist temple, and cast them into "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" coins. As a kind of coins that destroyed Buddha, Zhou Yuan Tongbao has had a far-reaching and significant impact on the history of Chinese coins and the history of religious development.
"Zhou Yuan Tongbao" casters are exquisite, and the shape is exquisite. Through the ancient money dictionary, ancient money catalogue ancient coins and historical records, "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" is using coins, the face of the text is read directly, are copper small flat money and small flat large sample money, there is a light curtain and multi-star moon pattern on the back, there are also small flat coins on the back of the back, etc., the maximum diameter is within 26mm, and there are no large coins such as fold two, fold three, fold five, fold ten, etc.
Because the coins minted by Chai Rong came from the destroyed bronze Buddha statues. Therefore, the old folk habit believes that hanging "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" on the neck or waist has the effect of warding off evil spirits and praying for blessings. Therefore, in addition to the small flat money that was minted at that time, later generations imitated and minted various types and specifications of tired coins, the obverse is the "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" money, and the back of the money still has the Buddha statue, dragon and phoenix, zodiac, gossip, auspicious clouds and other patterns, all of which are within the category of "spending money".
Ten years ago, the author was fortunate to collect a large "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" ancient coin, the coin brass slightly red, the body and text of the money are old, the whole body of the black lacquer ancient pulp, the pulp is thick, with a sense of oily vicissitudes! Without thousands of years of tempering, this slurry would never have been produced. Therefore, it is concluded that this "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" extra-large coin is really a contemporary product of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms!
A closer look at this extra-large "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" coinage, in addition to the extra-large coinage, but with the circulation of small flat coins have two different characteristics:
1. The four-character text of "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" is not a direct reading, but a right-handed reading, and the backlight curtain of the money is the same as that of Xiaoping money.
2. The words "Zhou" and "Bao" in the four characters of the face text have openings in the upper left corner, especially the word "Bao", which should be in a different book style!
This extra-large coin has been measured to be 616 mm in diameter, 4.1 mm thick and weighs 67.11 grams.
Because the coin is plain-backed, it does not fall within the category of spending money with disgust. The author consulted the dictionary and catalogue of ancient coins of the past dynasties, as well as the numismatic documents of the past dynasties, and did not see this extra-large "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" catalogue and report.
It can be inferred from this that the extra-large "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" has two possible properties:
1. It belongs to the big money of the Kailu town Kut.
2. It is a trial mint sample, and has not been minted since then.
All in all, no matter which of the above situations the extra-large "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" belongs, because so far, the numismatic industry has not seen such a large coin catalogue, nor has it been put on the market, therefore, the extra-large "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" ancient coin should belong to the rarity of the numismatic world, and belong to the unique product of the "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" of the five dynasties and ten countries!
The above point of view is the author's conclusion based on the fact that there are no catalogues of various ancient numismatic genealogies in history, and the actual situation that the numismatic world has not seen the appearance of this extra-large "Zhou Yuan Tongbao" since ancient times. I also hope that all coin enthusiasts and the majority of "Brother Fang Confucius" will discuss together, and sincerely ask all numismatic experts and teachers to give comments and guidance, so as to make up for the lack of historical records for the catalog of ancient coins, in order to seek conclusions!
Author: Zhang Xianqing