On March 7, 2020, in Vancouver, Canada, an 88-year-old Chinese man passed away. When the news reached China, many people were touched by the news and shed tears. At this time, the current director of the Shanghai Museum wrote in the circle of friends: "Mr. Du Weishan donated a large number of ancient Silk Road coins to Shangbo, with outstanding achievements. Mr. Passed away peacefully, leaving countless good stories for posterity to hang on. May the old man go all the way and ascend to heaven. ”
Many people may not know the name Du Weishan, but in the numismatic collection world, this name is like thunder. However, Du Weishan also has an identity that has been repeatedly mentioned, the son of "Shanghai Emperor" Du Yuesheng. Du Weishan's mother was Yao Yulan, the youngest son of Du Yuesheng, the seventh in line, born in Shanghai in 1933.
When Du Yuesheng was dying, he made a request to his children, "No matter where you are, you must know that you are Chinese." After his father's death, Du Weishan followed his mother to Taiwan, and after graduating from high school, he studied in Australia and became a geologist, but Du Weishan's ambition was not here.
Du Weishan has been obsessed with ancient Chinese culture since he was a child, and by chance, he got a Han Dynasty five-baht coin, and since then he has formed an indissoluble relationship with ancient coins. In order to buy ancient coins, Du Weishan once mortgaged the house. Friends all think that Du Weishan is "crazy", but he does not think so, and he does not hesitate to spend thousands of dollars to buy various rare ancient coins.
It stands to reason that ancient coins that have been purchased with countless sums of money should be handed over to the next generation as heirlooms. Du Weishan did not do this, and since 1991, he has donated 2128 ancient coins purchased through various channels to the Shanghai Museum seven times. Some people have estimated that more than 2,000 ancient coins have a total value of 1.8 billion yuan.
In 1980, Du Weishan accidentally saw the gold coins of the Sassanid Dynasty in Persia, and was immediately attracted by this exquisite coin, and as a result, he did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to collect it. The ancient coin collection circle has a high evaluation of Du Weishan, "a coin collector with courage, vision, exploration, and proficiency in identification, especially for the Sassanid gold and silver coins, the collection is rich, the variety is complete, and the research is so exquisite that it has surpassed the same kind of private collectors in the world." It is now the first private collection in the world. ”
Du Weishan's wife once jokingly said: "I desperately earn money, he desperately buys money, saying that he can maintain and increase in value, and now it is all given to Shangbo!" Because I am Chinese! "Du Weishan's donation is very different from other people's donations, when he donates coins, he chooses to donate complete systems, such as the donation of Sassanid coins, which almost includes all the issued products of his dynasties, which has great reference value for the study of this ancient coin.
It is not difficult to imagine that in order to collect valuable ancient coins, Du Weishan must have gone through countless hardships. So, why did Du Weishan do this? I think he should never forget his father's dying teaching, "Never forget that you are a Chinese!" ”
Reference: Oral History of Du Weishan