The collection concept determines the collection mode.
Coins in China have a long history, and their inheritance, development and casting technology have very distinctive national cultural characteristics. Haibei, which originated in Xia and Shang Dynasties, should be the earliest currency in China, and the copper coins in the late Shang Dynasty can be called the earliest metal currency in the world. Early bronzes were mostly based on farm tools or knives, which were commonly known as "cloth coins or knife coins". It was the Qin Dynasty that truly unified the shape of China coins into a distinctive national feature of "outer circle and inner side". Since then, China coins have been innovating and developing along this system for more than two thousand years.
■ Age is not the only criterion to determine the value of a collection.
Collecting coins in chronological order is a traditional collection mode, which requires higher professional knowledge and auxiliary knowledge and more funds. Choosing ancient coin varieties of a certain dynasty or several dynasties requires certain professional knowledge and auxiliary knowledge, and only requires certain funds, which is the so-called dating collection mode; Personalized collection with the font style or face value of ancient coins as the collection goal is a more fashionable collection concept.
According to the analysis of the insiders, the collection value of an ancient coin should be comprehensively evaluated from the aspects of casting quantity, surviving quantity, technological process, literature record, coin texture and appearance. The long casting age is not the only condition that determines its collection value. For example, although the five baht coins in the Western Han Dynasty have a history of 2,000 years, the current market price of the collection is only a few yuan because of their large amount of existence. In addition, some special coins, such as coins minted in some dynasties in history, have the nature of reward and commemoration and have great historical collection value. Generally speaking, this kind of coin is less minted, less preserved and rarer than official coins. For example, Zhang Zeng, the leader of the peasant uprising army in the late Ming Dynasty, minted two kinds of coins, namely, "Yongchang Nengbao" and "Xiwu Reward". The former was tens of yuan each, while the latter was worth several thousand yuan.
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The transaction price showed a steady upward trend.
Chinese ancient coins have a very wide collection group and a long historical tradition. Beijing Guardian, Hanhai and other famous art auction companies have set up special sessions, and the number of coins involved each time is mostly in the hundreds, and the transaction price has risen steadily. With the increase in the number of people involved in the collection and investment of ancient coins, it is believed that the market price will have a greater upward trend. The factors restricting the rapid development of ancient money collection and investment market are the identification of ancient money and the proliferation of imitations, among which the identification of ancient money is particularly lacking because it involves many disciplines such as coin history, bronze casting history, history and finance.