Quickie: Xie Shan Pointed Spade!

I have had this pointed-footed spade in my collection for over a year now, and I originally wanted to post it in combination with several other spades I have been eyeballing. However, I figured that it's been quite a while since I last posted an ancient Chinese coin here. So, I'll just post it with a small part of the original write-up I was planning, maybe Thomas has some things he would like to add. For your eyes only:

Xie Shan, Small pointed footed (1/2 Jin). Something like 350 to 250 BC.

Nice (in my opinion), but quite worn Xie shan pointed footed spade, from the State of Zhao. Bottom left component, Shan, is unreadable, the other component on the left, Xie (without the Yi-radical, the two triangles on the right side) is pretty worn, but its top looks quite like Hartill #3.116. On this coin however, there is the, for other spade coinages, regular vertical line between the Xie-Shan and the Yi side, so technically seeing not listed in Hartill. Coole does list a few varieties, including a couple with such a line between the characters. Based on this coin, the reading of the coin could be uncertain: it is unclear whether the Yi radical should be combined with the Xie character, or whether it should be read separate, as Xie Shan Yi. Other calligraphic varieties (also on the large spades with the same inscription, see below) do show the Xie and the Yi component closer to each other, and are an advocate for the Xie(yi) Shan reading.

These flat handled, pointed-footed spades most likely developed from the similar footed, hollow-handled spades, which were the main currency in the Jin state, the predecessor of the Zhao state of course. They are often dated earlier than the square footed spades, but I believe there to be at least some overlap between the different types. Hoard finds containing both types have been found for example, as well as round coins and heavy spades from different states. There is far more to this spade-type evolution than I wrote here, and explaining it in detail takes many, many more write-ups. Of the two of us, Thomas is the real expert on spade typology, so direct any questions to him ;).

I might have mentioned this a couple of times, but out of all the of ancient Chinese states issuing coins, the state of Zhao has to be my absolute favourite. I'll get into the reason precisely why another time. These pointed spades therefore are one of my favourite things to collect: most, if not all, of the inscriptions on these pointed footed spades refer to a town or city name in the state of Zhao; 'Jinyang' is the modern Taiyuan, 'Handan' still has the same name, as does 'Wuan', etc. I however, seem to not be able to find any reference to a city called Xie Shan. Neither Hartill nor any other author seems to attribute it any farther than the state of Zhao itself. Could it be that the city was simply called Xie, and that the Shan character, meaning 'mountain', just denotes extra information? This would make sense, seeing as the Yi-radical mostly likely combines with the Xie character on this coin (see my comment above). From my, rather limited sources, I am sadly also unable to find a city simply called Xie, but this most-likely says something about my sources, rather than the city not existing. Or is the Xie reading just entirely wrong? We simply don't know. The only thing we do know for certain is that the inscription on this coin definitely refers to some sort of geographical location; the character for city is clearly used on the right.

Regardless of the fact that we don't know the exact location of this city, we do know that it was a city of at least some minor importance. While definitely not common when compared to other spades, these Xie Shan spades are by no means rare, and must have been made in significant numbers. We also know that the same city issued one other type of coin; a double value (=1 jin) pointed spade. One of the least rare large spades, yet it still fetches more than decent prices on auction. They are often faked, something which Thomas no doubt can confirm. On a recent auction, they had one we were both more than a little suspicious of; this one is as far as I can tell genuine, unfortunately not in my collection:

Xie Shan, large pointed footed spade (note the location of the Yi-radical). Minted around the same time as the small ones, possibly a little earlier.

Despite the wear, I really like the beautiful deep-blue and greenish colour on the reverse of my small Xie Shan coin, and the earthen accents it has. The shoulders of this coin are quite pointed, more than on regular pointed spades (Tip of the right one has been chipped off though). Reverse looks empty, except for the normal two vertical lines. A significant portion of these spades has numerals on the reverse (see my comments under the Xiangyuan Square foot spade), unfortunately this one hasn't.

Anyway, hope anyone enjoyed it. Feel free to comment or add additional information ;),

Mika