In second place at the auction was the Qi Duke Returning to the Capital Six-Character Knife Coin, sold for RMB 1.495 million. It is 185 mm in length and boasts a beautiful inscription of the Chinese Character Ri (meaning sun) on its obverse. This coin, cast in the shape of a knife, was commissioned by Duke Xiang, who ruled the State of Qi from 283 to 265 BC. Xiang was enthroned at a time when the state had lost all its territory but two cities. After years of bitter battles under Xiang’s steady leadership, Qi retrieved all its lands including its capital city. In celebration of the victory, Qi minted a set of coins, which became the earliest commemorative coins in Chinese history. They are generally named according to the number of Chinese characters inscribed on their front surface – in threes, fours, fives and sixes, those with six characters being the most valuable.

Qin Dynsaty (221 – 206 BC) coins cannot be overlooked when discussing the history of Chinese coinage. As Qin Shihuang became the first emperor of a unified China, he instituted sweeping currency reforms, abolishing shell, spade, knife-shaped and other types of coins, and establishing Qin castings as the sole unit of currency. Qin coins were round with a square hole at the center, reflecting the Chinese philosophy that the earth is square, while the heaven is round. This motif dominated Chinese coins for close to 2,000 years till the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911.

Decorative patterns are rarely seen on China’s ancient coins, which usually only feature kings’ reigns and their titles. It is no simple task to distinguish coins by their shape or casting metal alone. Chinese characters provide the most direct and convincing proof as to coins’ heritage.

There have been several upsurges in the domestic market for ancient coin collection. The first was while China’s dynastic history was still intact, during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736 – 1795) of the Qing Dynasty. The second coincided with a wave of ancient coin discoveries mostly around Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in the 1930s and 40s. The current collection trend began in the 1980s with the establishment of the China Numismatic Society in Beijing in the 1980s and subsequent establishment of corresponding provincial-level societies. As world art markets have grown considerably in recent decades, so has the market for ancient coins – surely an art form in their own right.