Double Happiness Sycee

Feb.14, 1998

The shown sycee silver, sized 30.8(L) x 18.3(H) mm, weighted 36.5g, i.e. 1 tael.
Chinese character Xi - 'Happiness together - double happiness'

Images received from Jim Farr (14-Feb-98).

Message from Stephen Tai (15-Feb-98):

The double-luck sycee (allow me to interpret it as double-happiness sycee), it is a genuine sycee in a very good shape, Mr.Jim Farr must be very happy to find it.

The good-luck sycee, including the above one, can be found in today, mostly were cast in late Ching period, or early Ming Kuo period, but no later than 1933. These sycee were mainly cast as gifts for the following occasions:

Weddings: inscriptions as Xi, in single: Happiness, in pair: Double-happiness. Any Chinese prefer to have the latter one, which implies that the good things will not only come in odd or single.
Birthdays: Inscriptions as Shou (Longevity) or Fu (Luck) ... and so on.
Promotions: Inscriptions as Lu (Promotion), Xi may as well ... and so on.
Lunar New Years: Xi, Fu, Lu ... and so forth.
And, Other Joyful or Celebrating Events.

Good-luck sycee, in most case, were in one and two taels (1 tale is about 36-38g, which depends on the scale then used), such sycee in other weights, heavier or lighter, may also be found, but respectively few.

The following images are coming from my collections, the sycee inscribed with Fu (Luck), weighed 36.8g, sized 31(L) x 16(W) x 18(H)mm, which you may also take as a reference.

Sycee Rewiev