Salt Tax Silver in Jing Dynasty (1115-1234 AD)

Stephen Tai
Feb.09, 1998

The Shown silver have size 98x44x16mm and weight 705g. Some of its engraved scripts may not be recognized, for its poor conditions. The scripts are both in Chinese and Jing's conventional languages, the latter with its meaning unknown. The Chinese scripts recognizable are Si Se å Tai Ho Se Nieng Yen Yin Er Se Liang You Er Chiang Hang Zen Wang å Li Fu Cheng, may be interpreted as: 'XX Official ... the 4^th (1204) year in the reign of Tai Ho, Salt Tax silver of 20 taels and 2 maces, Assayer Wang ... Weighted by .. Li Fu.

Salt Tax had been one of the major financial incomes for Jing Dynasty.
The square-through and waisted shape has been a typical pattern for almost all Jing's silver currency as excavated in China in recent years, such pattern is similar to the one in Song Dynasty.
Most of Jing's silver currency were found to be in 50, 25, 12.5 taels, the shown silver is the only one in 20 taels that I have seen.

A Legendary Currency in Late Ching Dynasty - A Study on Yunnan Pai-Fang-Ding