Item number: A323

Year: AD 1897-1898

Material: Brass

Size: 19.8 x 19.8 mm

Manufactured by: Nanjing, Kiang-nan Mint Bureau Silver Dollar Bureau

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2024

This coin is a “Guangxu Tongbao” copper coin, mechanically minted by the “Kiang-nan Mint Bureau Silver Dollar Bureau” in Nanjing during a brief period from December 15, AD 1897, to May AD 1898, during the 23rd to 24th years of Emperor Guangxu’s reign.

The coin exhibits the typical square-holed design characteristic of Chinese cash coins, but the machine-cut central square hole is misaligned with the square frame, resulting in a diamond-shaped appearance. The obverse side of the coin features the inscription “Guangxu Tongbao” in Song-style Chinese characters. On the reverse side, it is inscribed with the Manchu characters “Bao Ning.”

The right-side Manchu character on the reverse closely resembles the character for “Zhang,” which has led to long-standing misidentification among collectors, mistakenly attributing the coin’s origin to the “Bao Zhang” mint in Fujian province. However, the Bao Zhang Bureau in Zhangzhou, Fujian, was decommissioned during the Kangxi era and was not subsequently reestablished. Therefore, this copper coin was minted in Nanjing, commonly referred to by its elegant name “Jiangning.”In the 61st year of Kangxi (AD 1722), the Ministry of Revenue decided to retain only one mint per province, designating the Baosu Bureau in Suzhou as the representative mint for Jiangsu Province. Consequently, the Baoning Bureau was officially closed and faded into history.

物件編號: A323

年代: 公元 1897-1898 年

材質: 黃銅

尺寸: 19.8 x 19.8 mm

製造地: 南京, 江南鑄造銀元制錢總局

來源: 福君錢幣 2024

這是一枚光緒23年(公元1897年) 12月 15日至光緒24年(公元1898年) 5月間，位於南京的「江南鑄造銀元制錢總局」短暫試作的機械鑄造「光緒通寶」銅錢。

錢幣外觀為典型的方孔錢形制，但中間以機器鑿空的方孔未能對齊方框，故呈現菱形形狀。錢幣正面以宋體漢字鐫刻「光緒通寶」四字，背面則用滿文標示「寶寧」兩字。背面右側的滿文外觀是近似「寧」的「漳」字，故長期以來被收藏界誤認為福建「寶漳局」鑄造。但是位於福建漳州的「寶漳局」，早在康熙年間就已撤銷後續亦未重建。因此這枚銅錢實則是雅稱為「江寧」的南京所鑄造。