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Auction CSS70 5 Nov 2021
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Ming Dynasty, silver sycee for 10 taels, 'Jin Hua Yin', 363.8g, Zhong Qian XF, # 81905546, attractive.
Jin-hua-yin were silver sycees made during the Ming Dynasty from tax revenues. It was usually given as gifts by the emperor or to pay military officers' salaries. Jin-hua-yin sycees were so called in acknowledgment to its high silver content. They were also called Zhe-se-yin or Jing-ku-zhe-yin.
In the early Ming Dynasty, most taxes were collected in kind except for mining tax and the summer and autumn taxes from Shaanxi and Zhejiang which were collected in gold or silver. The taxes from those two provinces were used to pay for the military ministers' salaries in Nanjing, as well as local expenses. When the capital was moved to Peiping (Beijing) by the Yongle Emperor, officials in the capital had to go to Nanjing to collect rice provisions with their salary letter, which incurred high travelling costs. Officials therefore bartered for goods with rice but because the cost of obtaining the rice, 7-8 dan (1 dan is roughly 60 kilograms) could only be exchanged for 1 tael silver, which badly affect both the officials and the market. To solve the problem, Official Chau from Kiangnan introduced Jin-hua-yin for paying salary to officials, 1 tael could exchange for 4 dan of rice.
This Jin-hua-yin silver ingot from Ming dynasty is rarely-seen. Clear chopmark and dark toning, weight 363.8g, Zhong Qian XF..
Estimate: HK$50,000 - HK$80,000
Jin-hua-yin were silver sycees made during the Ming Dynasty from tax revenues. It was usually given as gifts by the emperor or to pay military officers' salaries. Jin-hua-yin sycees were so called in acknowledgment to its high silver content. They were also called Zhe-se-yin or Jing-ku-zhe-yin.
In the early Ming Dynasty, most taxes were collected in kind except for mining tax and the summer and autumn taxes from Shaanxi and Zhejiang which were collected in gold or silver. The taxes from those two provinces were used to pay for the military ministers' salaries in Nanjing, as well as local expenses. When the capital was moved to Peiping (Beijing) by the Yongle Emperor, officials in the capital had to go to Nanjing to collect rice provisions with their salary letter, which incurred high travelling costs. Officials therefore bartered for goods with rice but because the cost of obtaining the rice, 7-8 dan (1 dan is roughly 60 kilograms) could only be exchanged for 1 tael silver, which badly affect both the officials and the market. To solve the problem, Official Chau from Kiangnan introduced Jin-hua-yin for paying salary to officials, 1 tael could exchange for 4 dan of rice.
This Jin-hua-yin silver ingot from Ming dynasty is rarely-seen. Clear chopmark and dark toning, weight 363.8g, Zhong Qian XF..
Estimate: HK$50,000 - HK$80,000