Shanxi's "Wutai Mountain" has been a sacred place of Buddhism since ancient times, not to mention the grand scene of the Buddha, only one "Manjushri Pulpit" has a thousand years of history; there is also a "Qi Guang Pagoda" here, and it is here that a large number of "Buddha treasure gold coins" have been found.
Unfortunately, the workers did not know the goods, and after digging up, they actually changed "2 pieces" and a towel; who could have imagined that at the auction in 2018, there was only 1 "Buddha treasure gold coin", and it was auctioned for a sky-high price of "4.18 million".
In 1978, the Yanjiao Temple, where the "Wenshu Pulpit" on Mount Wutai was located, was already in ruins; on April 23, 1978, the thousand-year-old temple was finally renovated, when the foreman "Yuan Zhongfu" led more than 20 workers to take charge of the Qiguang Pagoda area.
Speaking of these more than 20 workers, one of them was a young man named "Hu Zhanbing," who was in charge of the foundation part of the Qi Guang Pagoda; just when "Hu Zhanbing" was doing a good job, the iron pickaxe "bell" sounded, which made his arm tingle, and it seemed that he had touched a hard object.
"Hu Zhanbing" leaned down to examine it carefully, only to find that what he had touched was a stone slab, and it had been broken by an iron pickaxe; "Hu Zhanbing" pried open a piece of rubble and found that there was a hole underneath, which was also curious, so he reached out and touched it.
Of course, the gravel "hole" was relatively small, and Hu Zhanbing's hand was not deep; nevertheless, he still felt two copper coins, which looked a little strange. In a nutshell, the "copper coins" that Hu Zhanbing touched were much heavier than the ones he had ever seen, and seemed to be much heavier; not only that, the two "copper coins" he touched were yellow and clear in color, unlike the ancient coins full of copper rust that he had seen in the past.
What is even more strange is that these two copper coins not only have characters, but also have two "little people" cast on one side; in 1978, when the ancient "copper coins" were still relatively common, Hu Zhanbing did not feel strange when he looked at them, and casually put them in his pocket.
Again, Wutai Mountain has been a Buddhist holy place since ancient times, and in 1978, the incense here was still flourishing, and there were many people who came to worship and visit; there were more people, and various businesses also took shape, of which "souvenirs" were particularly popular, and Hu Zhanbing was working nearby, which he knew.
After the work, Hu Zhanbing came to Taihuai Town with two "copper coins" and found a shop selling souvenirs, originally wanting to let the connoisseurs "long eyes"; who knows, the boss did not care at all, saw the "copper coins" and threw them back into Hu Zhanbing's hands, and the words were full of the meaning of "worthless".
How can it be said that after running so far, Hu Zhanbing came with "copper coins" and could bring them back? In this way, the two sides bargained, and finally finalized, two "copper coins" 2 yuan; before leaving, Hu Zhanbing also took a white towel, which was also considered to be a cheaper.
"Taking advantage" made Hu Zhanbing very happy, returned to the shed to show off with the co-workers, incidentally also dug himself into the "copper coin" to say again; this fried pot, others saw Hu Zhanbing got cheap, naturally unwilling, and some people coaxed and said, "Your boy is not blessed, maybe what is the treasure, you sold 2 yuan?" ”
This reminded everyone that although they did not know how to do it, the word "baby" was still quite attractive; this was good, and the next day everyone stopped working, and they all gathered around the Qi Guang Pagoda to watch "Hu Zhanbing" work.
As mentioned earlier, at that time, "Hu Zhanbing" only smashed the stone slab, but did not completely open it; now when he said "there is a treasure", Hu Zhanbing came there again in a hurry, opened the rubble slab and looked at it, and there was indeed something underneath, a wooden box that had long since decayed.
The wooden box was full of Huang Chengcheng's "copper coins", numbering thousands; this group of people jumped off the foundation pit to rob them when they saw that there was really a "treasure". The foreman "Yuan Zhongfu" also rushed to the scene, and when he was about to scold "how not to work", he suddenly heard someone shouting: There is a treasure; the robbery is that the drink cannot be stopped, coupled with the inherent greed of human nature, "Yuan Zhongfu" simply joined the ranks of the robbery.
In the evening, Yuan Zhongfu gathered more than 20 workers together, which means that it is some "copper coins", not rare goods; some people get less, some people get more, so some people must be uncomfortable, simply distribute according to the head.
Since the "foreman" spoke, the "workers" dared to say anything more; in this way, more than 20 people, each of whom received more than 100 "copper coins"; finally, Yuan Zhongfu did not forget to exhort: It is not a rare commodity, all mouths are strict, don't let the monks in the temple know!
That being said, if there was an impermeable wall, within two days, the abbot monk in the temple found the door and was still holding 2 "copper coins" in his hand, which were the two that "Hu Zhanbing" sold to the souvenir shop; it turned out that the pilgrims bought the two "copper coins" and specially gave them to the abbot monks in the temple for "identification".
Hu Zhanbing did not admit it, insisting that he had dug out two pieces; the monks in the temple naturally did not believe it, and the two sides said that they could not go together, and finally had to report to the police.
At first, more than 20 workers did not take it seriously, thinking"Isn't it just a few copper coins, what can you do to call the police?" No one expected that this matter would become a big deal, and more than 20 people entered the "class room".
The police directly said, "What you have in your hands is not ordinary 'copper coins', those are national treasures and cultural relics; if you don't tell the truth, you will all be sentenced!" "It's not scaring people, the police are telling the truth.
Originally, the presiding monk gave the 2 "copper coins" he received to the cultural relics experts; after identification, these ancient coins were not "copper coins", but the "Buddha treasure gold coins" personally ordered and personally supervised the minting of the second emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, which was said to be national treasure cultural relics, which can be described as reasonable and well-founded.
Just say "Buddha treasure gold coin", minted in the Northern Song Dynasty Chunhua year, "Chunhua" is the era name of Song Taizong, so it is also called "Chunhua Golden Buddha Yuanbao"; the two little people on the front of the "gold coin", the left is the "Buddha" statue, the right is the "Bodhisattva" statue, and the back is "Chunhua Yuanbao" Four characters, it is said that it is still "Zhao Guangyi" Imperial Pen.
To put it bluntly, this is the "gold coin" minted by Emperor Taizong of Song, which does not need to be circulated, but is dedicated to the "Buddha treasure" of the Wutaishan Monastery; this matter has become a big deal, and more than 20 workers have also been frightened, and some people have even regretted it.
The reason for "regret" is not that these people do not know the value of gold coins, but that many people have sold the "copper coins" in their hands; here are a few words, the workers do not know the value of the "Chunhua Yuanbao", but after selling it at a low price, it has attracted the attention of some people.
For a time, there were many fresh faces near Wutai Mountain, they came to "buy copper coins", the price was as high as "100 pieces"; of course, more than 20 workers did not know these, and when they sold it, it was simply "cheap selling".
After the public security department received this news, it was also a headache, and then a multi-departmental joint action was taken to map out the villages and towns of Wutai Mountain; after investigation, the traffickers resold a large number of "Chunhua Yuanbao" to Guangdong, Hong Kong and other places, and their price was even as high as "150,000 yuan for 1 piece".
What is the concept of "150,000" in 1978? And it's the price of "1 piece". After several years of efforts, the relevant departments recovered a total of 2580 "Chunhua Yuanbao" and recovered billions of economic losses; "billions" is only a string of numbers, and the value of "national treasures and cultural relics" naturally cannot be measured by numbers.
Unfortunately, there is still no accurate answer to how many "Chunhua Yuanbao" are scattered outside; in 2018, there was a "Chunhua Golden Buddha Yuanbao" at an auction in Hong Kong, and its final transaction price was "4.18 million".