A Famous Yunnan Gold Leaf
Weight: 4.2 grams
Dimension: 76x94 mm
Date: N/A
Inscriptions: 李家/雲南下關瑞豐祥記(The Lee's Family. Zuei Feng Xiang Firm, Xiakuan, Yunnan.) Yunnan Siakuan Shufun-Chiang Shop Gold Leaf
This is a piece of gold leaf made by a goldsmith named
Zuei Feng Xiang (or Shufun-Chiang , 瑞豐祥記) in Xiakuan (Siakun,
下關), Yunnan. Xiakuan was the name of an inland customs
in Da-Li (大理) and it became an alternative name of Da-Li,
a major city in the western Yunnan. Zuei Feng Xiang had been Lee's family
business for hundreds of years, and the technique of making gold leaves became
a heritage of the family since the Southern Sung Dynasty. Therefore, the
goldsmith proudly stamped on his family name on the gold leaf.
Those gold leaves made by Zuei Feng Xiang were mostly under the consignments
of 洪盛祥 (Hong Shen Xiang) - the richest merchant in the
western Yunnan, during 1918-1933. 洪盛祥 (Hong Shen Xiang)
had been successful in the business of jade, cotton, tea, sulfphur and
remittance in Yunnan, Burma and India. Gold business was one of the cash cows
in Hong Shen Xiang's empire. During 1918-1933, this firm purchased each year
tons of gold dust in Xiakuan where had one of the rich gold mines in China,
and consigned them to Zuei Feng Xiang for refinery and production. The gold
leaves made for Hong Shen Xiang by Zuei Feng Xiang were in the fineness of
99.6% which was slightly better than the fineness standard generally adopted
gold tola in India and the neighboring countries, i.e., 99.5%, such small
incentive made the gold leaves particularly welcomed in markets and became a
kind of trade gold in Yunnan, Burma and India for years.
When the gold leaves were still in service, an user was used to sheering or
cutting them for a piece of weight and value in demand, therefore, now it is
difficult to get a gold leaf in complete shape.
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