Asia and the China Trade Currency
Spanish trade routes to the orient were the initial driving force of the early explorers. Spices - Silks and other mystical Eastern potions were eagerly sought after by colonial Europeans.
After being validated for purity and content of the silver many were marked with chopmark notations.
Silver in ancient China was very rare and precious due to the lack of rich domestic mines. Silver deposits usually were found in the same ore bodies as minerals such as quartz, lead, and antimony, and the technology for refining and purifying silver was not mastered until the Tang Dynasty, a much later date than that for copper.
Spanish colonial cobs were imported and circulated in China
from the latter part of the 16th century, and their introduction
paved the way for other foreign milled silver coins to enter circulation during
the next four hundred years. Given the great variety of cob specimens, the only
way to determine which types were used in China is to look for examples which
bear Chinese chopmarks.
Spanish colonial cobs were called "Cross Money" by the Chinese, and
they were one of the earliest types of foreign silver coins used in the Chinese
coastal areas, such as Kuangtung, Fujien, Chekiang and Taiwan by the Spaniards,
Portuguese and Dutch for their trading with native people. These
irregularly-shaped foreign silver pieces were adopted by the Chinese as a kind
of "quasi-sycee" which were evaluated by their weight and silver
content. They circulated in their original form, often with chopmarks, or
in the form of Chinese sycee after they were consigned to the furnace and
recast.
The process of chopping cobs during the the initial stages of Chinese contact
with foreign silver demonstrates how merchants adopted and authenticated foreign
trade silver and transformed them into native coinage--a chopmarked cob was no
longer a cob, it was more like a sycee.
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Mexico 4 Reales circa 1650 showing assorted chops and cut tests
weight 13.1 grams
#ascb5a ...... $159.00
email to order : dj@ij.net
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Mexico 4 Reales - Dated 1652 - oM/P - chopmarks and test cuts
weight 12.8 grams
#as4ra ..... $200.00
email to order : dj@ij.net
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Mexico 8 Reales - ca.1652 - halved (for exchange) with test cuts and chops
weight 14.2 grams
#as424a...........$99.95
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Mexico 8 Reales - ca.1652 - halved (for exchange) with test cuts and chops
weight 17.1 grams
#as426a...........$99.95
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Mexico 8 Reales - ca.1652 - o/M P - halved (for exchange) with test cuts and chops
weight 15.9 grams
#as428a...........$129.95
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Mexico 8 Reales - Dated 1640 - oM/(P) - halved (for exchange) with test cuts
weight 14 grams
#8r1640a............$175.00
email to order : dj@ij.net
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Wonderful China Trade 8 Reales from Mexico ca. 1650 oM/P.
with test cuts and a tiny chop mark from Trade with Asia.
Mounted in 14kt Gold Bezel with a Sterling Tarpon
#8r1605a.........$695.00
email to order : dj@ij.net
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China Trade 8 reales from Mexico - ca. 1650
tiny chop mark (circle/cross)
weight 21.2 grams
#8r001a ........$225.00
email to order : dj@ij.net
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China Trade 8 reales from Mexico oM/P - full date 1652
with test cuts from Trade with Asia.
weight 25.5 grams
#cc8r1652a .......$350.00
email to order : dj@ij.net
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China Trade 8 reales from Mexico oM/P - circa. 1655
the 8 comprised of two 0's
with test cuts and chopmarks from Trade with Asia.
weight 24.3 grams
#cc8r1650a ........$350.00
email to order : dj@ij.net
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for Additional Treasures CLICK HERE
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The New World silver shipped to China was in the forms of silver cobs and round coins. Initially, these were melted down and recast as silver ingots for domestic circulation. After testing the foreign silver with chops and chisels for a several decades, the Chinese gradually began to accept that foreign silver was of an uniform weight and a purity standard similar to that accepted in China. The silver then began to be used directly and Spanish cobs and pillar dollars, Dutch ducatons, and later on, Mexican eagle dollars, American trade dollars, and many more from other countries, was able to circulate freely.
348.9grams (11.22oz)
circa 1800/1830's
30.3mm wide x (approx) 111mm long x 13.6mm thick
Opium Trade - Silver Bar
$395.00
VIETNAM 10 LANG / Banana BARS
Resembling a Hang, or small trough for feeding animals, these long, bowed, rectangular bars called n¨¦n bac are a distinctly Vietnamese type of semi-official sycee, which was later produced outside Vietnam as well for use in the opium trade. Also referred to as Banana bars by some collectors. Today most specimens come to the West via Thailand where they are called Ngern Rong. They were made from the early 1800s reportedly through World War II. Cast mainly from Spanish American 8 Reales, Indian Rupees, and French Indochina Piastres they assay consistently .991 fine. They were made by bankers (silver merchants); when presented to government officials for testing, a fee was paid and Thap (10)Lang and three other "verification stamps" were added. Treasury officials would also test scrap brought to them, and cast bars bearing the three royal stamps and the official assayer's name at the lower left side, but without the four verification stamps. Such bars are rare because the officials charged more for their services than the silver merchants. At some point this system broke down and to meet the continuing demand for convenient, stackable ingots, silver merchants in Thailand, Hong Kong, and possibly Burma and China produced a slightly different, late version. Along with the Fu and stag-head Tael coins, these may have been used primarily in the opium trade.
for Additional Treasures CLICK HERE
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