Miscellanies #1
No.
Msl/1
Weight: 384 grams/10 taels
Date: N/A
Inscriptions: 天源盛記/匯號紋銀
Tien Yuan Shen Firm
Remittance Bank Fine Silver
Chopmarks: 玩/重
Zhong (Heavy, Double)
Wuan (Play)
Notes:
Vietnamese Silver Bar overstamped with Yunnan Silver Bank's Chops
Collection of the webmaster
No.
Msl/2
Weight: 9.9 grams/2.8 maces
Date: N/A
Inscriptions: 壽昌/紋銀
Shou Chang (County of Chekiang)
Wen Yin (Fine Silver)
Notes:
A Small Chekiang Tax Silver
Such a tiny piece of silver, usually didn't carry a place name indicating where it originated unlike official or tax silver. However, in Chekiang, in the Chien-Lung period (1736-1795), there had been a type of tiny silver cast as a payment for a grain tax, in Chinese called "Chien Liang Hsiao Bao". Until now, no illustration of such sycee can be found and it is possible that this specimen is an example of the grain tax sycee.
Collection of the webmaster
No.
Msl/3
Weight: 372 grams/10 taels
Date: 1833 A.D.
Inscriptions: 明命/癸巳/興安/福源
Ming Mang (Reign)
Guei Sze (Year)
Hsin An (Name of a province in the northern Vietnam)
Fu Yuan (Name of silver shop) Pure Silver
Notes:
A Vietnamese Drum or Round
Most of the Vietnamese silvers we have seen are in rectangular bar shape as Msl/1. This specimen is quite unusual.
Probably, it originated from Szechuan no later than 1833 and was reworked in Vietnam by removing the original stamps and pressing on the 4 new ones.
Unlike Szechuan Drums that we usually see, this piece doesn't have a nipple on its surface. However, many Szechuan Drums from the earlier stage of the Ching Dynasty looked more like a round shape without a nipple, just like Scr10/1. Both this piece and Scr10/1 have 4 stamps in similar locations, and Scr10/1, we may reasonably estimate, could be cast in the 13th year of Tao Kuang (1821-1850), Jia Ching (1796-1820), or an earlier reign, which means that it could be cast in 1833, 1808, or earlier.
Collection of Cong Nguyen
(Obv)
(Left)
(Right)
(Bottom)
(End)
No.Msl/4
Weight: 370 grams/10 taels
Date: 1833 A.D.
Inscriptions: 明命/癸巳/內帑
Ming Mang (Reign, 1820-1840)
Nei Tang (Royal Money)
Guei Sze (Year) (Obv)
Assaying chops: 中平/公甲/看/吉
Zhong Ping (Name of the weighing scale) (Left)
Gong Jia (Name of the purity standard) (Right)
Kan (Looked, Assayed) (Two ends)
Ji (Luck, a monogram engraved by the smith) (Bottom)
Notes:
A Vietnamese Drum or Round
Collection of the webmaster
(Obv)
(Left)
(Right)
(Rev)No.Msl/5
Weight: 40 grams/1 taels
Date: 1802-1819 A.D.
Inscriptions: 嘉隆年造/精銀壹兩/值錢貳貫捌佰/中平號
Cast in the Year of the Jia Long Reign (Obv)
Genuine Silver of 1 Tael (Rev)
Zhong Ping Hao (The weighing scale's remark) (Left)
Worth of 2,800 cash (Right)
Notes:
Vietnamese Silver Bar
Because of their excellent silver fineness, Msl/7 and Msl/8 could be circulated in Yunnan, China without being melted and recast.
Collection of the webmaster
No.
Msl/6
Weight: 65 grams
Date: N/A
Inscriptions:
None
Notes:
Collection of the webmaster
No.
Msl/7
Weight: 65 grams
Date: N/A
Inscriptions:
None
Notes:
No. Msl/6,7: "Tok" Money
Originated from Thailand and Burma; a great variety of this type had been brought into Yunnan during the late Ching Dynasty. Because most of them were in a low silver fineness, they were required to be melted and recast as sycee in the Yunnan regional form and purity standard before circulating in Yunnan.
Collection of the webmaster
No.
Msl/8
Weight: 65 grams
Date: N/A
Inscriptions:
None
Notes:
"Lat-Hoi" Money
Originated from Thailand and Laos, and some of them had been circulated in Yunnan
Collection of the webmaster
No.
Msl/9
Weight: 61 grams
Date: N/A
Inscriptions:
Thai
Notes:
"Chiang Money"
Originated from Thailand, and some of them had been circulated in Yunnan
Collection of Hu Chun Chung
No.
Msl/10
Weight: 33 grams/9 maces
Date: N/A
Inscriptions: 元寶牌香煙中美煙公司敬贈
Yuanbao (i.e., Sycee) Brand Cigarettes. Complimented by Sino-American Tobaccos Company
Notes:
This small, 0.9 tael,
Boat Sycee carries a tiny round stamp with a diameter
of 8mm, inscribed with 12 Chinese characters. The translation is shown
above.
The Sino-American Tobaccos Company seemed to intentionally choose sycee to
attract the attention of Chinese people for the purpose of promoting its brand
of cigarettes called "Yuanbao", which was another word for
"Sycee".
This specimen is
believed to have been cast during the period of the Nationalist government (1912-1933)
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