Pre-Imperial .28770.E2.80.93220 BCE.29 Ancient Chinese coinage
1 pre-imperial (770–220 bce) 1.1 cowries 1.2 gold 1.3 jade pieces 1.4 money brand 1.5 spade money 1.5.1 hollow handled spade money 1.5.2 flat handled spade money 1.6 knife money 1.7 round coins pre-imperial (770–220 bce) the earliest coinage of china described sima qian, great historian of c. 100 bce: opening of exchange between farmers, artisans, , merchants, there came use money of tortoise shells, cowrie shells, gold, coins (chinese: 錢; pinyin: qián), knives (chinese: 刀; pinyin: dāo), spades (chinese: 布; pinyin: bù) has been remote antiquity. while nothing known use of tortoise shells money, gold , cowries (either real shells or replicas) used south of yellow river. although there no doubt well-known spade , knife money used coins, has not been demonstrated other items offered dealers coins such fish, halberds, , metal chimes used coins. not found in coin hoards, , probability these in fact funerary items. archaeological evidence shows earliest use of spade , knife money in spring ...