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Year: AD 499-640

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Provenance:

1. Spink 2022

2. Dr. Werner Burger

The ancient kingdom of Gaochang, situated in present-day Turpan County, Xinjiang, saw successive dynasties of the Han Empire dispatching garrisons to bolster defence in the region. Descendants of these stationed soldiers intermingled with immigrants from Gansu and other provinces, eventually forming an independent kingdom ruled by the Qu clan for 141 years until its conquest by the Tang Dynasty in 640 CE.

Gaochang was renowned for its exceptional casting techniques and craftsmanship, producing coins characterised by their thickness and superior quality. This coin, minted during the Qu-led Gaochang period, bears the official Han script characters “吉利,” symbolising the Han ethnic lineage prevalent in the region.

To date, only a few dozen such coins have been discovered, marking them as exceedingly rare and significant artifacts of ancient Chinese numismatics.

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年代: 公元 499-640 年

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來源:

1. 斯賓克拍賣行 2022

2. 布威納博士舊藏

高昌古國，位於今天的新疆吐魯番縣，漢朝及其後的王朝均曾派遣守軍加強該地區的防禦。這些駐軍士兵的後代則與來自甘肅和其他省份的移民一起居住在該地區，而該地區最終成了一個獨立的王國，並以”麴”姓統治了141年，直到公元640年被唐朝征服。

高昌的鑄造技術和工藝精湛，生產出的錢幣質地厚重、品質優良。這枚錢幣為麴氏高昌國時期所鑄，其上刻有漢字官方文字”吉利”，體現了該地區的漢族血脈。迄今為止，只發現了約十幾枚這樣的錢幣。

這是一枚極為罕見且不尋常的古代中國錢幣!