Xuzhou Han Culture Academic

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Mould for wuzhu coins
Heritage information

◇ Heritage No. :

◇ Collection Name:Mould for wuzhu coins

◇ Historical date:Western Han dynasty

◇ Collection Size:Length:17.4cm Width:7.5cm Thickness:0.6cm

◇ Collection Source:Excavated at Yunlongshan in 1995

Introduction of cultural relics

       

       This corn mould was discovered on the east slope of the Yunlongshan hill in Xuzhou during an archaeological survey in 1955. The mould was found with 530 wuzhu coins, under which there was one shard of a broken earthenware jar with an inscribed wuzhu coin pattern. This site has not been excavated, but judging from the type of objects found on site, archaeolgists exluded ther possibility of it being a coin-manufacturing workshop.

       The mould is made from bronze. 12 coins in 2 rows can be cast simultaneously. Wuzhu coinage, which weighed 5 zhu(hence its name), was issued in 118 BC as a result of Emperor Wu’s efforts to regain the monopoly on coin production. The official wuzhu coins were cakked Sanguan Wuzhu, meaning wuzhu coins made under the supervision of 3 officers. Coins during that time wrer of consistently good quality and were edged with a hard lip to prevent forgers from clipping fragment off to cast new ones. Wuzhu was one of the most influential circulating coinages in Chinses history as its use continued until the Tang dynasty(AD 618-906).