Usually in costume dramas, the big hero enters the restaurant, and the local tycoons take out a few silver and shoot them directly on the dinner table, and then the little two will bring the signature dish, what ginseng gas pot chicken and the like, but the restaurant owner never seems to find change. So, in the real ancient times, how did the restaurant owner really receive a piece of silver to find change?
First of all, the silver that the ancient people bought was not a unified style of yuanbao, that is to say, the ancient people could take both broken silver and yuanbao when they paid money, and even silver hairpins and silver jewelry could be taken out, but no matter what the shape, the people only recognized the weight.
However, it is not enough to reach the weight, the silver of the ancient people is with some impurities, the same is silver, some are full of silver and blind, some are all black spots, in this case, even if the weight is the same, the value of the latter is not half of the former. It can be said that in ancient times, the value of silver fluctuated a lot.
So how can the restaurant owner get back two or two with five or two pieces of silver?
When the ancient boss got the silver, he would first check the color of the silver, use a small scale called "deng" to weigh the weight of the silver, and then set the value of the silver with the guests. Then, the boss will take out a clip scissors, this scissors handle is very long, the cut is very small, convenient to force, and then fix one end of the clip on the table, with a force clip, the silver will be cut into several pieces, and finally put together a two-by-two silver back to the guests. It has to be said that for the ancients, it was not easy to complete a commodity transaction.
Cutting silver is not easy, usually can be cut down is a miracle, cut off the fixed weight is even more impossible, therefore, ordinary people use silver many times, very fragmented, big silver is rarely minted, so if there is really a big hero with a big silver dollar to pay, I am afraid that the restaurant owner will despise him behind his back.
In fact, silver really became a trading currency in the Two Han Dynasties, and the real popularity in general trading was still in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Therefore, most of the time the people still use copper coins.
In 1733, a European traveler came to China. He wrote: "The local poor also carried scissors and weights with them, and they were skilled in their skills, and the amount of silver they needed was cut immediately. But there are merchants who pay attention to 2 hours to complete the transaction! ”
In ancient times, in order to prevent people from forging yuanbao, the ancients would also use scissors to cut it open, so that you can see whether there is lead, copper and other impurities inside.
It wasn't until the end of the Qing Dynasty that money was really created. But most people don't use yuanbao at all, usually copper coins. After all, the people are not rich. Other places trade eggs and porcelain bowls as currency. What do you think?