Fakes-2
F/11
Weight: 30 grams/0.8 tael
Date: N/A.
Inscriptions: 臨全
Ling Chuan (Name of the Kuangsi merchant consigning to cast such piece)
Notes:
Collection of the webmaster
An imitation based on a newly created style and made with low silver content.
Ling Chuan was one of the members or affiliates of the members of the renowned 13Firms of Canton during its golden era, the Jia Ching and Tao Kuang periods (1796-1820, 1821-1850). This firm had consigned many silver shops to cast Square Trough in Kuangsi.
The 13 Firms were local companies given power by the Chinese tax authority to act as a trading agents, suppliers, distributors and customs tax collectors with foreign firms conducting business in Canton. Canton Port and the 13 Firms enjoyed a monopoly on this business from 1822, when Canton was designated by the imperial government as the only harbor opened for foreign trade, until the end of the Opium War when Shanghai, Fuchou, Xiamen and Ninpo were forced to open to western trade.
Kt10/4 is also a specimen cast by a member of the 13 Firms-Yi Ho who was an agent of Jardines, Matheson & Co., Ltd.
More details are given in A Study on Square Troughs of the Southern Provinces During the Ching Dynasty (清代南方諸省方鏪考).
F/12
Weight: 1 tael
Date: N/A.
Inscriptions: 祿
Lu (Wealth, Promotion)
Notes:
Many good-luck sycee in the shape of Tea Blossom as this piece proclaimed to be excavated in Kueichow has been introduced into the major numismatic markets and auctions.
Seen in trade
F/13
Weight: 3 tael
Date: N/A.
Inscriptions: 漢釐/九升源/興元
Hankow Li Tax
Gio Shen Yuan (Merchant)
Xin Yuan (Silver shop)
Notes:
A modified reproduction
Seen in trade
F/14
Weight: 10 tael
Date: N/A.
Inscriptions: 岳釐課/張祥泰
Yueyang (County, in Hunan) Li Tax
Zhang Hsiang Tai (Silversmith)
Notes:
A modified reproduction
Seen in trade
F/15
Weight: 10 tael
Date: 1875 A.D.
Inscriptions: 潯州府/光緒元年/六月 日
Shun Jou Prefecture
The 1st Year of Kuang Hsu
The 6th Month Day
Treasury Silver
Assaying chop: 萬祥豐
Wan Hsiang Feng
Notes:
A modified reproduction which assaying chop is wrongly matched. According to "A Study on Square Troughs of the Southern Provinces During the Ching Dynasty"(清代南方諸省方鏪考), the assayer appointed by the officials in the 1st year of Kuang Hsu for assaying Kuansi Square Trough was Wei Yuan Hen (魏元亨); as for Wan Hsiang Feng (萬祥豐), he was not an official assayer until 15 years later. Moreover, the stamp of Treasury Silver (庫銀) was generally adopted as a replacement of makers' stamps since the 11th-12th year of Kuang Hsu.
Seen in trade
F/16
Weight: 10 taels
Date: 1909 A.D
Inscriptions: 信宜縣/宣統元年/十一月銀匠吳阜生
Hsin Yi County
The 1st Year of Hsuan Tung
The 11th Month, Silversmith Wu Fu Shen
Notes:
Seen in trade
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