Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Ant-nose Money 'Ghost face' type, without upper line
| Issuer | Chu, State of |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 220 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Cast bronze ant-nose money of the 'Ghost face' type, struck without the upper horizontal line characteristic of related varieties. The obverse displays a stylized archaic Chinese character reading 貝 (Bei, meaning 'shell'), rendered in bold raised relief against a plain field, evoking the abstracted facial appearance that gives this type its popular 'ghost face' designation. The composition is divided by a prominent central horizontal bar, below which diagonal strokes converge toward the oval piercing at the lower terminus of the flan. The surface exhibits a natural green patina consistent with ancient burial, and the irregular flan edges reflect the hand-cast production technique typical of Warring States-period Chu coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 貝 (Translation: Bei Shell) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Ant-nose money — named by Western collectors for the vague facial resemblance of the incuse markings — functioned as the primary small-denomination currency of the Chu state across the middle and late Warring States period. Chu was unusual among the major states in rejecting the spade and knife coin forms favored elsewhere, instead issuing these small cast bronzes in a form that may derive from cowrie shell currency. The "ghost face" designation distinguishes this specific character configuration; the absence of the upper line marks it as a distinct casting variant, not a worn example of the lined type.