China: found cellar containing 1.5 tons of ancient coins - Ancients.info - The Online Resource for Ancient Coins & Antiquities

Roma_Orbis · Aug 31, 2007, 04:11 PM

http://www.cronaca.com/archives/005113.html

August 30, 2007
Biggest ancient coin hoard ever?

Rather impressive:
A cellar containing 1.5 tons of ancient coins, including some 2,000-year-old ones, have been discovered by a villager in Changzi County, north China's Shanxi Province.

The man in Qianwanhu village discovered the cellar with some 10,000 coins, ranging from 3 cm to 1 cm in diameter, on Aug. 23 when he was digging a channel to place pipes for tap water, said Li Lin, an official of the Changzi Center of Cultural Heritage and Tourism.

The "money cellar" was 1.5 meters under the earth, with coins being piled orderly into a cuboid of 1.3 meters long, 0.65 meter wide and one meter high . . .

Most of the coins were made during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) with the remainders made during Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) . . .
From People's Daily.

But as to the question 'Biggest ancient coin hoard ever', like the claim by Arthur Brand of the so-called Carchemish hoard the 'hoard of the millenium', let's take into consideration the mythic hoard of Mir Zakah: treasure made of 4 tons of precious metal and objects, found in Afghanistan and looted by the Afghan warlords between 1992 and 1994.
(see http://www.ancients.info/forums/showthread.php?t=688).

Jérôme

GMoneti · Sep 1, 2007, 03:08 AM

Interesting, but wait-1.5 tons and only 10,000 coins? That's like 150g per coin on average! Something's not right. And certainly not even close to being the biggest ancient coin hoard. This is less than one seventh of the Reka Devnia hoard of Roman coins for example.

electrum! · Sep 1, 2007, 10:08 AM

Well this ought to depress the market eventually!

cogito · Sep 1, 2007, 03:46 PM

Not a problem there. Asian ancients don't bring values even near what "Western" types do, in part I suspect, because of their relative uniformity and restricted market.

Jeff

hcole1989 · Sep 1, 2007, 04:10 PM

Additional Chinese coins survive in the millions. Northern Song and Han coins are very very common today (costing only a dollar or two for nice coins). There will not be a big depression in the market if any at all with this hoard.

AlexB · Sep 1, 2007, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hcole1989

Additional Chinese coins survive in the millions. Northern Song and Han coins are very very common today (costing only a dollar or two for nice coins). There will not be a big depression in the market if any at all with this hoard.

The way the economy is going in China, will have more melt value that face value!

Brgds

Alex

4to2centophilia · Sep 1, 2007, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electrum!

Well this ought to depress the market eventually!

Actually, I was thinking Salems constant stream of 4th century coins was going to dent that market.

M

BTW What is up with the "view" counter on this board?? Thousands of views for some threads after a couple days. Something is not right.

Aug 31, 2007, 04:11 PM	#1
Roma_Orbis Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Paris Posts: 821	China: found cellar containing 1.5 tons of ancient coins http://www.cronaca.com/archives/005113.html August 30, 2007 Biggest ancient coin hoard ever? Rather impressive: A cellar containing 1.5 tons of ancient coins, including some 2,000-year-old ones, have been discovered by a villager in Changzi County, north China's Shanxi Province. The man in Qianwanhu village discovered the cellar with some 10,000 coins, ranging from 3 cm to 1 cm in diameter, on Aug. 23 when he was digging a channel to place pipes for tap water, said Li Lin, an official of the Changzi Center of Cultural Heritage and Tourism. The "money cellar" was 1.5 meters under the earth, with coins being piled orderly into a cuboid of 1.3 meters long, 0.65 meter wide and one meter high . . . Most of the coins were made during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) with the remainders made during Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907) . . . From People's Daily. But as to the question 'Biggest ancient coin hoard ever', like the claim by Arthur Brand of the so-called Carchemish hoard the 'hoard of the millenium', let's take into consideration the mythic hoard of Mir Zakah: treasure made of 4 tons of precious metal and objects, found in Afghanistan and looted by the Afghan warlords between 1992 and 1994. (see http://www.ancients.info/forums/showthread.php?t=688). Jérôme

Sep 1, 2007, 03:08 AM	#2
GMoneti Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: USA Posts: 206	Interesting, but wait-1.5 tons and only 10,000 coins? That's like 150g per coin on average! Something's not right. And certainly not even close to being the biggest ancient coin hoard. This is less than one seventh of the Reka Devnia hoard of Roman coins for example. __________________ Georgi

Sep 1, 2007, 10:08 AM	#3
electrum! Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Spokane, Washington Posts: 357	Lots of coins Well this ought to depress the market eventually!

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Sep 1, 2007, 03:46 PM	#4
cogito Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Piedmont of North Carolina Posts: 1,721	Not a problem there. Asian ancients don't bring values even near what "Western" types do, in part I suspect, because of their relative uniformity and restricted market. Jeff

Sep 1, 2007, 04:10 PM	#5
hcole1989 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 28	Additional Chinese coins survive in the millions. Northern Song and Han coins are very very common today (costing only a dollar or two for nice coins). There will not be a big depression in the market if any at all with this hoard.