Asia Cash China, Wu Zhu Coin Mould (206 BC - 25 AD)

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China, Western Han Dynasty, 206 BC - 25 AD. Mould fragment for casting Wu Zhu cash coins. Very rare item. 111 x 80 x 32 mm.

 

CASTING MONEY IN ANCIENT CHINA

The Western Han Dynasty (206 BC–25 AD) was a period of considerable prosperity. According to the History of Han, “The granaries in the cities and the countryside were full and the government treasuries were running over with wealth. In the capital the strings of cash had been stacked up by the hundreds of millions until the cords that bound them had rotten away and they could no longer be counted” (Hartill 2017, p. 85).

Hartill gives some indication of what this money could buy. A hectolitre of millet, an important staple crop in ancient China, cost on average 75 cash, while a hectolitre of rice cost 140 cash. A horse was, not surprisingly, considerably more expensive, costing around 4,500 cash.

The cash itself was a round copper coin with a square hole in the centre. Unlike the coins of the contemporary European and Persian worlds, which were struck between dies, Chinese cash coins were produced by casting molten metal in moulds.

This mould preserves five complete and three partial coin impressions. All are of the Wu Zhu type, coins with a standard weight of approximately 3.25 grams and a denomination of five zhu. The mould therefore provides a rare and very tangible link to the actual process by which these ancient coins were manufactured.

For an object of this kind, provenance is particularly important. Our research has so far traced the mould to sales by Emporium Hamburg and Stephen Album Rare Coins. Our investigation has, however, been limited, and we believe that further research by a future owner may well reveal a considerably longer provenance.

Previously printed in “Catalogue No. 1 of Selected Numismatics” (2026).

Protocol no. 5988

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