New Purchase: Ancient Chinese Ming Hua

I just bought this a few hours ago. The seller obviously did not know what he had and seemed to be using an old and outdated guide. The seller said that he was selling the collection of a deceased relative (which I believe due to the nature of the items he normally sells). These typically sell for $75-150.

Round Coin Square Hole
Obverse: Ming Hua
Reverse: Blank
H-6.21



The Ming Hua was cast by the state of Yan ca 300-220 BC. These were directly derived from the Ming knives also cast by the state of Yan because the character "ming" (the round character on the right) is the same character on the obverse of all Ming knives. The meaning of "Hua" is uncertain, but it is thought to be some sort of denomination related to knife coins, but the relationship is uncertain. This is because of the pattern of coins stating either the city in which they were made or their denomination. There was no city of Ming in the state of Yan, so we can only guess that the inscription was a denomination. It was formerly read at "Dao," or "knife," but that made little sense due to the very large weight discrepancy between the Ming knives and Hua-denominated coins.

On an interesting note, this coin is among the first to have a round shape and a square hole, a style originally adopted in the areas which exclusively used knife coins. The states that issued spade coins had round coins with round holes, like the one below. The advantage of the square hole was that the coins would not spin on a square peg when the casting sprues on the edge were filed down. This was so efficient, when the state of Qin unified all of China, the square-holed coins (which were denominated Ban Liang, or 'half ounce') were the madated form of currency.

Round Coin Round Hole
Obverse: Yuan (a city in the state of Liang)
Reverse: Blank (note the impression of another yuan coin in the reverse. This usually means that the coin is authentic hoard material)
H-6.3