Kaiyuan Bao Tong initiated a new era of money and played an important role in the history of coin development. In the early Tang Dynasty, the use of Sui five baht was easy and confusing. In the fourth year of Wude in Tang Gaozu (AD 62 1 year), in order to rectify the chaotic monetary system, waste Sui money and imitate the strict norms of five baht in the Western Han Dynasty, it began to cast "Kaiyuan Bao Tong" to replace the remaining five baht in society. The original "Kaiyuan" was inscribed by calligraphers, and its shape still follows Qin's round money. It is stipulated that every ten articles weigh one or two, each article weighs one yuan, and a thousand articles weigh six catties and four ounces. From then on, China's monetary system officially broke away from the two systems of Thai baht in the name of weight, and developed into Bao Tong's monetary system, which became the standard of coinage after the Tang Dynasty and lasted for nearly 1300 years.
First, in the early Tang Dynasty, Wude Kaiyuan? Qianzhuang is a high-quality Kaiyuan money written by Ou Yangxun, which is closely supervised by Qianjian. Its main features are: good front and back, complete outline, deep Qian Wen, pure copper and excellent casting. The coin has a diameter of 24-25mm, a diameter of 7mm, a width of 2mm, and a weight of about 4.5g The four characters contain eight points and official script, and the strokes are dignified and steady, and the word "open" is symmetrical and dense; The word "yuan" is divided into short horizontal lines at the beginning and long horizontal lines at the second pass. The first three strokes of the word "Tong" are not connected with each other, showing the shape of three strokes, and the opening of the "Yong" part is larger; The word "Bao" is solemnly written, and its "shell" part is two short horizontal lines, which are not connected with the left and right vertical pens. ?
Second, in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the moon marked Kaiyuan? It looks like fingernail prints, and there are quite a few unearthed. On the Kaiyuan Qian Wen, the moon mark changed Ou Yangxun's dignified and steady Kaiyuan Qian Wen into a slender and delicate pen. The prefix "Yuan" is horizontally elongated, and the first three strokes of the word "Tong" are continuous twists and turns, and then evolve into continuous twists and turns. The pen opening of the "Yong" part is relatively flat, and the whole font looks thinner than the previous one. There are two horizontal extensions in the middle of the shell part of the word "Bao", which are connected with the left and right vertical pens respectively. The word "two" below "meter" indicates three vertical diameters.
Third, the late Tang Dynasty Kaiyuan? In the sixth year of Huichang (AD 846), the casting guild was located in Kaiyuan, with a diameter as large as Kaiyuan, and the names of countries were cast on the back, such as "Jing" and "Chang" in Yangzhou. There are obvious differences in the process of casting money in different places, most of which are skewed and the casting text is vague. A year later, Huichang Kaiyuan stopped casting. Both of them are Huichang Kaiyuan, with obvious differences in quality, and there may be differences between official casting and private casting. In numerology, Huichang Kaiyuan is generally considered as a typical specimen of Kaiyuan in the late Tang Dynasty. In addition, small moon marks, moon marks, moon marks and multi-moon marks are openings or openings, copper-black, with high iron content and illegible handwriting. Qian Wen's strokes are slender, and the first three strokes of the word "Tong" are continuously folded in half or seemingly incoherent, and most of them have uneven outlines, which should be privately cast in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
Fourth, flowers wear Kaiyuan? Experts verified that it was cast in the middle Tang Dynasty, mainly circulating in the late Tang Dynasty. The word "Kai" for flowers to convey money develops to a wide body, with the prefix "Yuan" horizontally lengthened, the shape of "Tong" slender, the first three strokes of "Lian" twisted continuously, the stroke of "Bao" slender, the inner side of "North" horizontally elongated, and the left and right vertical pens connected. The diameter of money is 23 mm to 24 mm, and the copper is impure and the casting is sloppy. ? 5. What is the trace of Kaiyuan? Small diameter Kaiyuan refers to Kaiyuan coins with a diameter of 2 1mm to 23 mm, which may be privately minted coins in various periods. According to the unearthed specimens of Xiao Kaiyuan, experts can roughly divide them into three categories according to their popular stages: One, Qian Wen's handwriting tries to imitate Wude Kaiyuan, but the money is only 23mm in diameter and weighs less than 3g. Qian Wen is still clear, the outline is still regular, and the copper is not very bad; Type ⅱ, small kaiyuan in the middle Tang Dynasty, with vague fonts, rough casting process, copper doped with iron and lead, and serious corrosion; Type III, small kaiyuan in the late Tang Dynasty, with different widths, black copper, iron and lead, thin meat, fuzzy mold, money diameter of 22 mm to 23 mm, weight of 1.7 g to 3 g, mostly privately cast. ? 6. Kaiyuan in Southern Tang Dynasty? Kaiyuan Bao Tong, which was cast in the Southern Tang Dynasty, is equipped with seals and official seals, which is obviously different from that of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty. The Southern Tang Dynasty initiated the practice of currency control in China, which prevailed in the Song Dynasty. As for the casting age of Kaiyuan in the Southern Tang Dynasty, it should be cast in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. ? The characteristics of Kaiyuan in the Southern Tang Dynasty, as pointed out in Qian Bie Lu Zhu, are "Kaiyuan in the Southern Tang Dynasty, with small characters and extremely wide outlines". The word "Bao" in the seal script Kaiyuan is very distinctive. Under the word "rice", the left word "Wang" and the right word "Yi" are slender and neat, and the square is round. Who wrote the official script of Kaiyuan is still inconclusive. ? During the Southern Tang Dynasty and Kaiyuan Period, there were both printed money and official money. The bronze seal script is a big Kaiyuan, with a diameter of 26.6 mm and a weight of 4.4 grams, while the small one is 24.6 mm and weighs 3.7 grams. At present, only a large white copper official script has been found, with a diameter of 25.3 mm and a weight of 3.9 grams. The bronze official script has a large diameter of 25.7 mm and a weight of 3.7 g, and a small diameter of 23.3 mm and a weight of 2.5 g? It is rare to find other large-scale coins in the Southern Tang Dynasty, such as 20% or 30% discount. ? Nantang is a small country, which flourished during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Although its coins have the same name as Kaiyuan in Tang Dynasty, they are not in a series.
Having said so many versions of Kaiyuan Bao Tong, I think readers and friends also have a general idea. Bian Xiao listed six versions of Kai Yuan Bao Tong: Kai Yuan in the early Tang Dynasty, Kai Yuan in the middle Tang Dynasty, Kai Yuan in the late Tang Dynasty, Kai Yuan among Flowers, Kai Yuan in the Trail and Kai Yuan in the Southern Tang Dynasty. The version of Kaiyuan Bao Tong listed by Bian Xiao for readers is very detailed, which can be considered as including all versions of Kaiyuan Bao Tong, so it is correct for everyone to identify or write a paper according to the materials prepared by Bian Xiao. I hope everyone will support Tuba Rabbit, and we will continue to work hard.