Nine-fold Seal Script of Emperor Song Dynasty Tongbao Among the many versions of Tongbao coins of Emperor Song Dynasty, one coin commonly known as "Nine-fold Seal Script of Emperor Song Dynasty" is particularly precious. The nine-fold seal script is also called the upper seal script. There was no such system in the Qin and Han Dynasties. It has been mostly used on official seals since the Tang and Song Dynasties. The nine-fold seal script is based on the small seal script. The strokes are folded repeatedly, circled and buckled, and the stipples are drawn in both vertical and horizontal directions. The blank parts are filled in to achieve uniformity.
"The curves and curves are flat and full" is the biggest feature of the nine-fold seal calligraphy. The number of folds, the number of folds of each character, depends on the complexity and simplicity of the strokes. There are five folds, six folds, seven folds, eight folds, nine folds, and ten folds. It is called nine folds, "which means nine is the end of the number, and it means there are many folds." It describes the number of folds. Nine-fold seal script became popular in the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties and continues to this day. This kind of "nine-fold seal script" is used for money writing. Among thousands of ancient coins, "Huang Song Tong Bao" is only an isolated example, so it is regarded as a rare treasure by collectors of all ages. Regarding the casting background of the nine-fold seal script of Tongbao in the Imperial Song Dynasty, numismatists today generally believe that the coin is "sample money" or "furnace money" and should not be a regular currency in circulation.