On January 29, the Korea Heritage Research Institute recently announced that 20 Chinese Northern Song coins and a bronze pagoda had been found in the archaeology of a Goryeo dynasty-era temple site on Jeju Island, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, and South Korea's YTN TV said that the Korea Agency for Cultural Properties will continue to investigate or designate the above items as cultural relics.
According to reports, there are three kinds of Song Dynasty coins unearthed this time, including Xianping Yuanbao, Huangsong Tongbao, and Zhiping Yuanbao, and Korean archaeologists speculate that the temple was built in the early or middle of the 11th century.
The three ancient coins of Xianping Yuanbao, Huangsong Tongbao, and Zhiping Yuanbao are all coins of the Song Dynasty, among which the Imperial Song Tongbao is particularly worth mentioning. Imperial Song Tongbao is divided into two types, one was born in the Northern Song Dynasty, one was born in the Southern Song Dynasty, during the reign of the fourth king of the Song Dynasty, Song Renzong, ordered to start casting the Imperial Song Tongbao, the imperial Song Tongbao minted during this period is called "Northern Yellow Song", this kind of coin is made of copper as raw material, there are two calligraphy fonts of kaishu and seal book as money, and the back is smooth.
Imperial Song Tongbao during the Northern Song Dynasty
Among them, there is a kind of Imperial Song Tongbao is very special, the capital museum collection of the Imperial Song Tongbao nine-stacked seal coins, the calligraphy on it is written in nine stacks of seals, extremely rare, extremely rare, known as the "king of ancient coins", most of the nine-stack seal writing is found in Song and Yuan seals or coins, appearing on coins only the only case of Imperial Song Tongbao. This special Imperial Song Tongbao is also speculated to be a sample minted coin, and did not circulate in the market at that time.
Nine stacks of seal emperor Song Tongbao
Because of the large number of surviving existences, the value of the imperial Song Tongbao of the Southern Song Dynasty is slightly inferior to that of the Imperial Song Tongbao of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Imperial Song Tongbao coins of the Southern Song Dynasty are written in kaishu, neat and dignified in appearance, and the casting process is fine. As for whether the Imperial Song Tongbao unearthed on Jeju Island in South Korea is "Northern Emperor Song", what the format is remains to be explored by archaeological researchers.
Imperial Song Tongbao during the Southern Song Dynasty
Xianping Yuanbao is one of the shortest minting time among these three unearthed ancient coins, minted during the Song Ping period of the Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (998 AD to 1003 AD), only six years, such a short issuance time is also closely related to the prevailing year number money in the Song Dynasty, and each time the yuan is changed, a new coin must be changed, resulting in a wide variety of coins and complex layouts. The text on the Xianping Yuanbao is said to be the imperial pen of Zhenzong. There are not many such coins, and the editions are small, generally made of copper, and the back star format is relatively rare. According to Artron, in January 2019, a Xianping ingot, priced at 846032 yuan, was auctioned by Wittgenstein International Auctions Co., Ltd. in the United Kingdom.
Xianping Yuanbao
Zhiping Yuanbao was minted during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to match money, there are three styles of calligraphy, seal book, and ancient seal book, and the year name of Zhiping was used from 1064 to 1047, which is the only year name used during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Song, who died young. From the perspective of material, Zhiping Yuanbao has the most iron and the lowest value, and the copper is the least, and the value is relatively high.
Zhiping Yuanbao
The Goryeo Dynasty had close contacts with the Song Dynasty, and soon after the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Goryeo established clan relations with the Song Dynasty, and the three kings of Gwang, Jing, and Seong, were canonized by the Song. The Goryeo Dynasty admired the culture of the Song Dynasty very much, and absorbed a large number of Song Dynasty canonical relics, and the envoys of the two sides exchanged frequently. After the destruction of Jin Liao and the Northern Song Dynasty, envoys from the two sides ceased to communicate in 1136, but merchants from the two countries still maintained a broken line of trade.
Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Shen Zhao
Proofreader: Li Haihui