Digital museum showcasing the collection of worldwide legends over the years! 千古不朽博物館展示多年來收藏的世界傳奇故事!
Qing Dynasty,
Qianlong Tongbao,
Bao Quan Bureau
(Manchu Script Version 1)
清
乾隆通寶
寶泉局造
(滿文字體一版)
Item number: A576
Year: AD 1735-1796
Material: Brass
Size: 24.8 x 24.7 x 1.2 mm
Weight: 4.4 g
Manufactured by: Bao Quan Bureau
Provenance:
1. Noonans 2022
2. D. L. F. Sealy Collection
This is a “Qianlong Tongbao,” a coin with a square hole, issued by the Bao Quan Bureau under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue during the reign of the sixth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong, from AD 1735 to AD 1796.
The coin’s outer rim, inner rim, and central square hole are well-defined. The inner rim on the obverse side is engraved with four Chinese characters, “Qianlong Tongbao,” while the inner rim on the reverse side is inscribed with the Manchu script “ᠪᠣᠣ ᠴᡳᠣᠸᠠᠨ” (Bao Quan).
After the Manchus entered China and established the Qing Empire, they continued the Ming Empire’s practice of minting currency through two central agencies: the Bao Quan Bureau and the Bao Yuan Bureau.
The Bao Quan Bureau was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue, responsible for fiscal matters, while the Bao Yuan Bureau was overseen by the Ministry of Works, responsible for construction. The highest-ranking official of the Bao Quan Bureau was a Han Right assistant minister(漢右侍郎).
Initially, the Bao Quan Bureau was established to distribute military pay but later became the Qing Dynasty’s most important central minting authority.
In the early Qing Dynasty, silver was more valuable than copper coins. However, as the usage and circulation of copper coins increased, the situation reversed, with copper coins becoming more valuable than silver. The copper coins minted by the two centre bureaus, Bao Quan Bureau and Bao Yuan Bureau, often incurred losses.
Although efforts were made during the Yongzheng period to reduce these losses, the scale of coinage was not decreased as a means of cost reduction.
In the 4th year of Qianlong’s reign (AD 1739), a system was established to improve the transportation of copper from Yunnan to the two capital bureaus. By the 7th year of Qianlong’s reign (AD 1742), the minting scale of these two bureaus had rapidly expanded by 1.5 times.