In ancient China, agriculture is considered the most important activity economically (and militarily). Hence the association of farming tools with financial currency is inevitable.
Bronze Spade-shaped Coins 青铜空首布
Bronze | Spring Autumn Period (770-403 BC), Jin State (c.11th century BC – 376 BC) | National Museum of China Collection, Unearthed at Houma, Shanxi Province, 1956. 铜｜春秋・晋（前11世纪－前376年）｜国家博物馆藏，1956年山西候马出土
Kongshou Bu 空首布 (spade-shaped coins) is the earliest metal coin found in China. These coins are shaped like a shovel, and the inspiration comes from the agricultural tool called “qian” 钱 (i.e. shovel 铲), which becomes the modern character for money. It is also known as “bu” 布 (the pseudo-borrowed word for agricultural tool called “bó” 鎛, which is shaped like a hoe or “chi” 锄). 1
Pottery Mould for Spade-shaped Coin 空首布陶范
At that time, there were three types of “bu” circulating under the jurisdiction of the Zhou royal family: large flat shoulder, small flat shoulder and small oblique shoulder. Some “bu“s were also cast with the location of the mint + the word “wang” 王, indicating the casting place. In the Jin State, it was popular to cast the place name “Gandan” 甘丹 (i.e. modern day Youdan 邮郸 in Hebei province).
Bronze Spade-shaped Coins 平肩弧足空首布
Jin’s coins come in two shapes – flat shoulder and sharp shoulder – and both came with oblique heads to allow for affixing a handle like a hoe. Inscriptions found so far include 1. “亥”、2. “四”、3. “成”、4. “封丘少化”、5. “毫”
Bronze Spade-shaped Coins 平肩空首布
铜｜战国（前403年－前221年）｜国家博物馆藏
These coins were in circulation in the Eastern Zhou (771-256 BC) capital region of Gong 鞏, located just southwest of present-day Gongyi 巩义, a county-level city in Zhengzhou of Henan Province. On the coins are inscriptions cast onto the surface that indicate the region they came from – 1. “安周”、2. “武”、3. “官考”、4. “安臧”、5. “东周”、6.“武
(suì)”、7. “刜釿”2、8. “武” 3
Bronze Knife-shaped Coins 青铜刀币
铜｜战国（前403年－前221年）齐（前1046年-前221年）｜山东博物馆藏
Knife-shaped coins are bronze coins cast after mid/late Spring Autumn period and evolved from practical knife tools in real life. They were minted in Qi State 齐国 (1046-221 BC) in the east and Yan, Zhao, Zhongshan and other northern states. These official currency of Qi were used in trade with neighbouring countries, and inscribed with characters like “Ming” 明, “Qi Dadao” 齐大刀, “Zhi Mo Dadao” 即墨大刀, “Anyang’s big knife” 安阳之大刀, etc.4
Bronze Knife-shaped Coin 명도전
These coins were also found in excavations in Korea dating to the Lianhuabao-Sejukri culture (region name in North Korea, Sejukri culture was popular in bronze age) in the form of a hand-knife with the Chinese character “Ming” written on the front. At that time, China was in the midst of its Warring States Period, while Gojoseon and Yan were actively feuding with one another. 5
Jin State 晉 was one of the large regional states of the Zhou period (c. 11th century BC-221 BC). It was located in modern Shanxi 山西. Three sidebranches of the house of Jin, Han 韓, Wei 魏,and Zhao 趙, became more powerful and finally divided the territory of Jin among themselves. The official appointment of the lords of these three countries as as Marquises (侯) by the king of Zhou in 403 BC is regarded as the beginning of the Warring States period 戰國 (403-221 BC).
About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
- 空首布是目前我们发现的最早的金属铸币，这种形状如同金属铲的货币来源于被称为“钱”（即铲）的农具，又称为“布”（农具“鎛”的假借字）。当时在周王室地区流行的空首布有大型平肩、小型平肩和小型斜肩三种，有的布表面还铸有当时周地的地名和“王”字，注明了铸造地点，这些钱也主要在周王室的辖区流通。晋国则流行铸有地名“甘丹”（即邮郸）的耸肩尖足空首布。Museum label, National Museum of China, Jun 2023. ↩︎
- 對於“釿”字涵義，目前有兩種説法。一種認為斤、鏟同制，同財貨，曾充作一般等價物，發展成為貨幣後，斤（釿）逐漸演變為重量單位；另一種説法認為“釿”為農具，後演變成貨幣，並被借用作貨幣名稱。http://big5.www.gov.cn/gate/big5/www.gov.cn/govweb/test/2006-05/09/content_276242.htm 中央政府門戶網站, 2006年05月9日 ↩︎
- 春秋战国时期的金属货币，材质多数是铜基合金，也有金、银等贵金属。其上文字大多数是铸造上去的，少量为刻写而成。时代最早的是春秋中期就已流通于周、郑等国的平肩弧足空首布上的文字。 货币上的文字，字数多寡不一，内容也有差别。春秋中晚期的布币、刀币，以单个字居多。战国时期的三晋货币和燕国布币，则以双字地名为主，也有少量的“地名＋货币单位”。魏国梁布上记有换算方面的内容，字数多至6～7字。秦国圆钱仅标明货币单位，燕国刀币上单标一个“明”字，似乎与铸造的职官有关。https://www.zgbk.com/ecph/words?SiteID=1&ID=524586&SubID=44722 《中国大百科全书》第三版 ↩︎
- 刀币是由生活中实用的刀削类工具演变而来的青铜铸币，春秋中后期以后铸行于东方的齐国和北方的燕、赵、中山等地。齐国官方的货币是齐大刀和賹圆钱，同时也铸有齐明刀等币种用来与周边国家贸易使用。齐国刀币的币文通常有“明”“齐大刀”“齐之大刀”“即墨大刀”“即墨之大刀”“安阳之大刀”“齐近邦迷大刀”等。除齐国本地铸行的货币外，临淄齐故城还发现有不少周边其他国家的货币，尤其以燕国刀币数量较多，它们是诸侯国之间频繁开展贸易往来的重要物证。Museum label, National Museum of China, Jun 2023. ↩︎
- Museum label, National Museum of Korea, Nov 2022. ↩︎
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