In the soil on the side of Shouzhou Bagong Mountain and between streams, there are often small gold cakes with seals on them... The world calls it "Yinzi Gold" is also. ——Shen Kuo, "Mengxi Pen Talks About Strange Things"
preface
Many dynasties used gold as currency, but the shape and style of gold coins in different periods will also be different. Like the State of Chu in the Warring States period, a currency in circulation was called "郢爰", the reason why it was called this name was because 郢 was a place name, and 爰 was a unit of weight in the Spring and Autumn Period, which can be simply understood as similar to the current kilogram and kilogram.
Children playing in the water by the river to pick up "chocolate"
In Dafeng County, Jiangsu Province, because of the hot weather in the summer, many children like to play together by the river, which is a normal thing in the local area. On a summer afternoon in 2007, a few children came to the river together while herding cattle, and playing with the water was a good way to cool off, so several people played by the river.
Because the river is not deep and clear, in the process of playing, one of the children saw a mussel shell in the river, and he called for a partner to watch it. At that time, someone proposed to fish out the mussel shell, and after the mussel shell was dug out, there were several prototypes under the mussel shell that looked like Qiaoleli, so several children fished these pieces of "chocolate" from the river together.
Wash off the surface silt with a golden sparkle
Where children will think so much, play with everything can be fished up from the river, in addition to the mussel shell, these round "chocolate" immediately arouse the curiosity of children. Holding this thing in his hand, a layer of silt on the surface began to fall down, and one of the children washed the "chocolate" with river water.
When a layer of silt on the surface of the "chocolate" is washed, it reveals something with a golden metallic luster, and there are some patterns and patterns on the surface that children do not recognize. The children did not know the specific material of this thing, but they thought that the golden things they picked up were very beautiful, so they divided up and took them home to play.
It was the currency of the Chu state 2500 years ago
The things that the children picked up at home were quickly discovered by the parents, and although the adults did not know the origin of the things the children picked up, it was certain that these were real gold. So in the days that followed, where the children found the gold coins, many villagers took tools to dig for gold.
A total of 21 such gold coins were dug up here, and at that time, the digging of gold coins in Dafeng County was also a lot of noise, not only the cultural relics department learned the news, but many cultural relics dealers also rushed here. However, with the improvement of the people's legal awareness, and the local police were also cooperating with the work of the cultural relics department at that time, these gold coins were not privately traded in the end, but were all taken away by the cultural relics department. Through the appraisal of relevant departments, it can be determined that these gold coins are gold coins of the Chu State in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period 2500 years ago.
At that time, this kind of gold coin called Yin Ye circulated in the Chu Kingdom, the shape was mostly square or round, and the surface of the gold coin would also be cast with words, generally written "郢爰", "Chen Ye", etc. This Yin and Chen characters are place names. This kind of gold coin is used more by the chu nobles, because the circulation relationship has also been found in Jiangsu, Anhui and other places on the mainland, but the existing number of Yin Ye is relatively small, so the valuation of these 21 Yin Ye experts is over 100 million.
summary
As a hard currency, gold has the effect of preserving value no matter what period, and there are still many people who like to use gold to preserve value. In ancient times, especially during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, gold coins were something that nobles could only possess and use. These yin ye found in Dafeng County, Jiangsu Province, are actually of great significance for the study of the economy and culture of the Chu State, so these gold coins also have certain academic value.
【References】Mengxi Pen Talk, Archaeological Newsletter
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