How to treat Guangxu Yuanbao copper coins as the year of making ten coins?

Qing dynasty currency. In the Qing Dynasty, currency, paper money and copper coins were in parallel, Jiaqing issued new silver coins, and Guangxu cast more gold and silver coins. The Westernization Movement also influenced the coinage industry. In the 13th year of Guangxu (1887), Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, entrusted the British minister to order a complete set of coin-making machines in Britain, and first minted silver and copper coins in Guangdong Money Bureau. Since then, provinces have followed suit and bought foreign mechanically cast silver and copper coins. Many mint machines, including Guangdong Money Bureau, were ordered from the famous Birmingham Mint Company in London, England. With the intervention of British industry, silver coins have also been stained with western colors.

The silver coin Guangxu Yuanbao 1898 was issued with a fineness of 9 1%. There is an inscription on the front, with "Made in Hubei" above, "Party History" below, "Guangxu Yuanbao" in the middle and eight coins in the heart. On the back of the coin, the top of the outer ring is engraved with the words "Great Qing Dynasty Copper Coin" in small English standard font. A golden dragon with five claws is cast on the inner ring, which is exquisite in shape and unique in aesthetic style. The front of the coin rarely sees the fusion of Manchu and Chinese cultures, but the back of the coin clearly marks the intervention of western culture. Small as coins are, we can also get a glimpse of social culture.

At the end of the Qing dynasty, copper prices rose sharply, and people destroyed money for copper to get several times of profits, so there was a money shortage in the market. Due to the suspension of casting money in Guangdong, the market is short of money, and small-scale circulation is very inconvenient.

In order to save the money shortage, influenced by Hong Kong copper coins and foreign currency, in June of Guangxu 26, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Deshou and the former Governor Li Hongzhang authorized Guangdong to imitate the casting mechanism of Hong Kong copper coins. Therefore, the casting of mechanism copper coins in Qing Dynasty began in Guangdong. Subsequently, Fujian, Jiangsu, Sichuan and other provinces successively copied copper coins.

Use copper 95‰, lead white 4‰, tin 1, each weighing two yuan, that is, ten pence. The center of the front is "Guangxu Yuanbao" and "Baoguang" in Manchu, and the outer ring is beaded with the inscription "Made in Hubei Province" on the upper edge. The lower edge of the Ji value text is "Dang Shi"; On the right center of the back, a "flying dragon" figure and a bead circle are cast, with "KWANGTUNG" on the upper edge and "ONECENT" on the lower edge.

Hubei Province is the pioneer of copper coins in China. In the following 50 years, copper coins were produced in large quantities, totaling tens of billions, and a large number of them have remained to this day. So the value of ordinary copper coins is not high.

Compared with square hole copper coins, machine-made copper coins are better cast, the market is happy to use and the circulation is smooth. The following year, the government ordered the provinces along the Yangtze River to allow imitation casting. Later, copper coins were minted all over the country. So ten coppers are cast in different places, which is the most obvious feature that distinguishes different ten coppers.

Guangxu Yuanbao was cast by 19 provincial bureaus. Except for the central household department, the copper coins cast by local provinces are engraved with the provincial names on the upper edge of the front. Yes: 1 household; 2 Beiyang; 12 Hubei; 7 Jiangnan; 15 Henan; 1 1 Hunan; 14 Jiangxi; 9 Shandong; 8 Guangdong; 5 Qingjiang River; 6 Zhejiang; 16 Jiangsu; 13 Sichuan; 10 Fujian; 17 Anhui; 3 Jilin; 4 Fengtian; 18 Guangxi; 19 Xinjiang; 20 Heilongjiang.

Guangxu Yuanbao has different prices according to the types of silver and copper coins, ranging from 2 yuan to 2,000 yuan, and ordinary copper coins are about 2-5 yuan. 00