A 50-Tael Yuanbao
Wei Zhou of Chili Province

Stephen Tai
July, 25, 1998

Inscriptions:
left - Wei

Wei Zhou [Wei District];

De Rui Long [Name of silver smith]

right - Xuan

Hsuang Tong Year ( Zhang

Zhang Long Xiu) Yue

Month

side -

Gong [Publicly Assayed, Assayer’s chop];

[6611, Conventional Chinese commercial numerals];

[Symbol of Jiao, i.e. Dime or 10 cents]

Dimensions: 105(L) x 64(W) x 74(H) mm
Weight: 1860 g (50 taels)

Shown big 50-tael Yuan Bao dated with reign of Hsuang Tong (1909-1911) without further specifying year or month, was from Chili, the capital province in Ching Dynasty, and a kind of silver sycee we can find with respective number in nowadays.
This and many other similar ones inscribed with place name of Wei Zhou (Wei District), mostly were circulated in Zhang Jia Kuo (Kalgan), an important commercial and cargoes transiting city in Ching Dynasty for Han-Mongolian trades within the district. As a result, many silver sycee like this one were then cast and circulated there.
According to Chinese Monetary History authored by Prof. Zhang Jia Hsiang in 1925, those silver sycee used in Kalgan, inscribed with place name of Wei Zhou, were actually cast in Shansi Province and exported to there. Therefore, shape of such silver sycee is the same as a Shansi Yuanbao’s.
It is worthwhile mentioned, apart from name of silversmith/silver shop Der Zui Long was shown on the left chop, another name Zhang Long Sho was also listed on the right chop. The 2^nd one should be name of a merchant who instructed to cast and who owned this sycee. This was very common for a sycee of this region severally showing names of its silversmith and owner.
On the side of this silver sycee, an assayer’s chop of which indicated that it had been passed the examination by assayers, for up to then local silver purity standard of 99.5%.
Also there are some engraved scripts found on the side of the sycee: . They were all written in conventional Chinese commercial numerals or symbols, and can be interpreted as 6611 Jiao (Dime). It could be meant that this silver sycee when exchanged to silver coins was equal to 6611 Jiao. According to a ruling of Republican Government in 1914, the exchange rate for silver tael and silver dollar was fixed at 1: 2.3. This is quite near to what stated here in this sycee. It is very obviously that the sycee owner who preferred to exchange it for fractional silver coins-Jiao, rather than silver dollars-Yuan, specified there a symbol of Jiao. This should be an explanation for the type of silver coins commonly used in the area, actually was in Jiao, not Yuan.

Sycee Review

A 50-Tael Yuanbao Wei Zhou of Chili Province

A 50-Tael Yuanbao
Wei Zhou of Chili Province