Item number: A412

Year: AD 1899

Material: Bronze

Size: 24.1 x 24.1 x 1.1 mm

Weight: 3.8 g

Manufactured by: Guangdong, Canton Mint

Provenance:

1. Noonans 2022

2. D. L. F. Sealy Collection

This is a Guangxu Tongbao from the 25th year of the Guangxu period (AD 1899), minted by the Canton mint using machinery. This bronze coin, with its denomination marked on the reverse, is the first machine-minted square-holed coin to circulate in the Qing Empire.

The coin retains the traditional Chinese square-holed design, with the central square hole punched mechanically, often misaligned with the square frame. Due to the limitations of machinery quality at the time, the punching machines frequently required replacement, often several times a day. This resulted in low production efficiency and high costs, hastening the phasing out of square-holed coins.

On the obverse of the coin, the characters “Guangxu Tongbao” are inscribed in the sequence “top, bottom, right, left.” On the reverse, centred around the square hole, the top bears the weight unit “Kuping” used for tax purposes in the Qing Dynasty, while the bottom denotes the denomination “One Mace.” The sides are inscribed with the mint location, “Guang” for Guangdong, in both Manchu and Chinese characters.

In the 13th year of the Guangxu period (AD 1887), the then Viceroy of Liangguang, Zhang Zhidong, imported machinery from Britain and began minting mechanised silver coins in Guangdong. By May of the 25th year of Guangxu (AD 1899), copper coins with the appearance of square-holed coins, made with a material ratio of six parts copper to three parts lead, were minted. These coins, marked with their denomination, were the Guangxu Tongbao. They were officially issued in August, with an exchange rate of one tael of silver for every thousand coins. In September of the same year, Zhang Zhidong presented two boxes containing a thousand bronze coins to the Emperor for inspection.

The Guangxu Emperor’s feedback was that, following the traditional minting practises, the reverse side of the coin should only be inscribed with “Bao Guang” in Manchu script, without the additional “Kuping One Mace” inscription. Following this feedback, the Guangdong authorities minted the Guangxu Tongbao coins the following year with the reverse side modified to feature only the Manchu characters “Bao Guang.”

物件編號: A412

年代: 公元 1899 年

材料: 青銅

尺寸: 24.1 x 24.1 x 1.1 mm

重量: 3.8 g

製造地: 廣東, 廣東錢局

來源:

這是一枚清光緒25年(公元1899年)，由廣東錢局以機械鑄造的光緒通寶。這枚背面標示面額的銅錢，是清帝國第一款流通的機械鑄造方孔錢。

錢幣外觀沿襲中國傳統的方孔錢形制，中間的方孔以機械加壓鑿孔，未完全和方框對齊。礙於當時的機器品質，往往鑿孔機器每日就要更換數次，導致生產效率低落和成本過高的問題，加快方孔錢被淘汰的步伐。

錢幣正面按「上、下、右、左」順序，鐫刻「光緒通寶」四字。錢幣背面以方孔為基準，上方寫有清代納稅的計重單位「庫平」，下方則是錢幣面額「一錢」。左右則分別以滿漢兩文鐫刻鑄造地，廣東的簡稱「廣」。

光緒13年(公元1887年)，時任兩廣總督的張之洞從英國引進機器，於廣東開始鑄造機制銀幣後，光緒25年(公元1899年) 5月，相繼以銅六鉛三的材料比例，鑄造方孔錢外觀的銅錢，即該款標示面額的光緒通寶。8月正式發行，每一千枚兌換白銀一兩。同年9月，張之洞將一千枚銅錢分裝兩匣上呈給皇帝御覽。光緒皇帝的回饋是按過去鑄錢慣例，錢幣背面僅需以滿文鐫刻「寶廣」即可，不必有多餘的「庫平一錢」字樣。收到回饋的廣東當局，於隔年鑄造的光緒通寶便是按皇帝上諭，將背面改為滿文「寶廣」兩字。