The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-01-07
CHINESE CURRENCY.
THE EARLIEST EXPRESSION OF
MONEY IN A PERMANENT FORM.
Clay Money Used Over Two Thousand
Years Before Christ-When Paper
Currency Was First Issued
Chopped" Trade Dollars.

resu of staff ;tics OF the initial S atsi, ia his
"H-tary of Money" says that the earliest
expires ion of money in permanent form i
supposed to have been due to a Chinese
prince of2ll9 B. c., who took earth unitef
with glue and stamped it. This method OF
manufacture does not seem rational one,
or some OF the details have escaped US. Tne
glue might have been fiux, AMI through
heat the clay might have been converted
int some low, coarse grade of pottery.
After the clay money, whatever it
might be- whether fired or not. csms
copper money, which has been in use in
China from the remote:t antiquity. China
being poor in silver, this metal does
not seem to have been ever adopted as q
stan iari. Mr.. Del Mar believes that an at
tempt may have been male to u'e gold as
standard, because as early As the reign Of
Sung, 2257 b, c.. there are coins on waich
the legend reads "Tong king TO-" or, Good
for gold
Or the early commercial character OF tbs
ChiEeie evidences are constant. Mr. Del
Mar writes of their interchanges with the
western world, and mentors Chinese vases
AMI bottles found in Eyygtian tombs
# tue eighteenth dynasty at 1hebes
That there was intercourse between
China and Egypt is highly probable, but 1t
can not be demonstrated by the Chinese bot
ties, as these have been declared by Chinese
experts to have been quits modern proiuc-
tinns and by no means contemporanaou1
with the Egyptian monument. That the
Greeks AM Romans traded with the CLiue 6
cen not, however bs daubtsl but any evi-
,lanoa Of l'hiuasa ,flnctv in old kuY,,T4
wanting
mr. Del Mar, who has certainly deyo,e /
a great deal OF time to this most intere t. e +:
,Gbjsct. the history of Chinese money, maii-
ton a collection of various coins, nov l !
San Francisco which an exoert declares ha
piece, which date back from b c. 2251.
Numi,mati-t, who only collect Greek AZ /
Roman coins will rom their owa experience
expire their surprise at the lasting qualities
vi Chinese pieces, which have Re i,ted she
| corrosive action of TINS during 4, li3 years.
"Tha1s ancient coins have been submitted
TO the inspection of Chinese numismatists
and antiquarians both in Chinese Europe
AMI Ameri "a. and by them pronounced gen
une In short, there are no reason
able grounds for impsaching THAR vaiiiity,
ana uati such grounds are discovered tHese
coins must be accepted as authentic monu
ment-.'
One hundred and forty years before
| Christ Wuti is said to have first issued pa.
| Ter According to some authorize whit
| stag KIN, a Chinese foot square, was rep
| re- entstIve OF money, an was worth sj,0G
| eluen. The iir,t Cline coins having ini-
| pressed on them the name Of an emperor,
were the pieces of Hooking A, D. 4G5 Ii
| s07 th ne Wa, a scarcity of copper and pa
| per naiei were issuei. The want of copper
| continued for several centuries. In h
eleventh century iron was used for mcney,
| Paper issues were again used to repre- ent
the irol currency, and these werd
| emitted by private banker, and
made payable in three year. Thi
banker found many initiative filau-
oiers, ami with the natural result Of
the failure of the banker to redeem their
| papT. Counterfeit note; seem to date in
| China as far back as tine year 1OSS, but
| probably rascals were we'll versed in sucil
netarious transactions long before
Passing over a century or two we M
t. the time of Marco PHO, who describes d.
| Chinese. notes. Sir John Vaudeville VIII
wa the Chinese traveller Of 1927 writes O.
| the monay "of leathe imprinted or If Ia.
| err With the advent of toe first Eu
| ropeans Et) China there was change in
ter M ,aay. Silver and gold mines. which
raj baen cinsei by imperial orders, wera
| upeneI IN 1895, probably at the instigatiur
-. ths Portuguese The Chine e govern,
rsat do not MAKE silver or gold coin t.
| LAY though in 1915 some silver dol!ar
| we're issued by them Silver bullion /.
| east into ingot in shape resembling Z
see. Native silver is called sycee, and i,
differs in purity. The purest is the Kivan,
| jyaaE. which has from 81 to 90 per cent o;
| liver .......
% foreign silver the Spanish and SPIN
i.h-Amerjran pieces of 8, with America 1
| dollar AMI the trade dollar, ara in crcull.
iIon. They ars not taken, however, with.
Jut certain precautions, and must b,
.tamped or Chopped" with the seal of the
last mercantile house issuing them; hence
the name chopped dollar" When the g
hop quite cover the pecs, so that there i.
80 room for new brand, the piece is con
! yertai into bullion. This method of re-
marking coin is well known to collector,
., ol Greek money, A state would adop
the money Of another state and give il
value or render it current by putting it
nr.vats lamp on it, The quality of gol
and silver actually mined in China Seems
IA ignificant Mr.. Del Mar believes it t,
AN unit in all to 5000, 900 a year
In Japan coins wore u,ed in 60 B. C
!t're has been in Japan the standard o
1alua, and notes were issued in the fifth anl
/ sixth centuries, the same redeamahls i!
nee. The discovery of copper and goi
taied to have been made at the berinn 9
Of tie eighth century, may be questioned
But that COPPER and gold, certainly silver
we're found combined, admits of no doubt
Tue J.panese up to the last century wei.
not sbi!ltul enough to separate these metal
ma the thrifty Dutchman knew all ali
1t, hence the enormous quantities of cope
the Holanders exported for SO many year
| from Japan