Who wouldn't like the brilliant yellow gold, the silver of the white flowers, the strings of copper coins, and the stacks of hundred-dollar bills? As we all know, gold, silver and copper coins were all circulating currencies in ancient times. But in comparison, copper coins have been used for the longest time, followed by silver, and the shortest circulation time is gold, which is really because gold is too expensive.
In people's daily lives, copper coins can meet a large demand for money, and then there is silver, silver ingots generally appear in bulk business, and then there are official exchanges. Silver ingots and broken silver are very common, especially broken silver, very popular with all levels of society, the reason why it is called broken silver, is relatively fragmented, broken silver does not have a fixed weight, the beginning is from the silver ingot down the part, so the shape, weight, size is different, it is not the same way to get down from the silver ingot, therefore, there will not be two exactly the same broken silver, even if there are tools for cutting silver ingots, but there is no mold for size, shape, etc.
But touch the silver for a long time, people for the weight of broken silver can still weigh one or two, there are also special tools for weighing silver, so broken silver circulation is more convenient, after all, broken silver is generally less than one or two, so in small transactions even more popular than copper coins.
The opposite of broken silver is the golden melon seeds, the golden melon seeds are actually broken gold, it is estimated that the gold is more expensive than the silver gold, and the broken gold is smaller, so the broken gold has a nicer name, that is, the golden melon seeds. Of course, many people think that the golden melon seeds are the same shape as these broken gold and melon seeds, which is the case in the TV series, which is actually a wrong idea.
After all, the ancient broken gold is not made with professional tools, in fact, its appearance and broken silver, are to meet the needs of circulation from the part of the large gold ingots, therefore, such a golden melon seed in the shape, size and weight is impossible to be the same, but because the broken gold looks very small, grab a handful in the hand is like grabbing a handful of golden melon seeds, so there is the name of golden melon seeds.
The circulation time of golden melon seeds is not long, the Ming Dynasty had circulation before, at that time the golden melon seeds were circulated in the whole society, but after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, in order to promote bao banknotes, he had ordered a ban on the circulation of private gold and silver as currency, of course, this absolute prohibition time is not long, the later silver two transactions are still very common, but gold because it is too expensive, indeed the circulation has decreased a lot.
The appearance of gold in the Ming and Qing dynasties is mostly related to the emperor's reward, the emperor to give the minister gold ten thousand two is impossible, reward a hundred and two is still possible, and the scope of the reward of the golden melon seed is more extensive than the gold ingot, such as the emperor can be used to reward the minister, concubine, etc., and the concubine can also reward it to the palace maids, eunuchs who have made great contributions, or want the eunuchs around the emperor to show goodwill, etc., the ministers can also give it out, that is, the golden melon seed is used as a reward in the royal family and the home of the princely minister.
But no matter how rewarded, it cannot be ignored as its circulation function as money, it is different from other rewards, because it is still currency, so it can be used directly. If you can get a handful of golden melon seeds, even if it is a small handful, it is now a rich night, and if the emperor rewards a concubine, he must not be able to reward one or two golden melon seeds, how can he get a small handful, and if the concubine rewards the palace maid and the eunuch, it is likely to be a reward one by one, and even so, it is also a large amount of wealth.
A golden melon seed is generally 20 to 30 grams, about equal to one or two, according to the conversion relationship of one to ten, a golden melon seed is equivalent to eight or nine two silver, which in the eyes of ordinary people is not earned in a lifetime. Of course, in the imperial palace is also a lot of money, we take the Qing Dynasty, the harem concubines have a regular rule, the empress's annual routine is only silver 1000 two, in turn decreasing, the noble talent silver 100 two, and promised only silver 30 two, so a comparison, you know the importance of a small handful of golden melon seeds for concubines, if the emperor rewards a small handful, not happy to blame it.
There are several golden melon seeds in the "Biography of Zhen Huan", one of which is that Meizhuang gave Su Peisheng a handful of golden melon seeds, when Meizhuang was pregnant with Wen Taiyi's child, in order to save this child, Meizhuang designed and the emperor met by chance, and then regained favor, Su Peisheng was ordered to give the emperor's reward to Meizhuang, and Meizhuang grabbed a handful of golden melon seeds in a box and gave them to Su Peisheng.
This detail is more interesting, Meizhuang and Zhen Huan sat at the table and talked, two boxes of golden melon seeds were placed on the table, and the fruit was placed together, if it was not good-looking, did you really think it was a yellow melon seed? It is completely the shape of a melon seed, is it not a sunflower that has been watered with water melted with gold since the beginning of the seedling, and then grows up to produce golden melon seeds?
In the "Daming Style" that is now being broadcast, there are also golden melon seeds, which are also full, like colored melon seeds, which is the result of the pursuit of shape. However, with the progress of science and technology, there are really golden melon seeds with the same shape as melon seeds, and in a jewelry exhibition in Beijing in 2019, there were golden melon seeds, which should be golden sunflowers, a sunflower made of pure gold.