Moneta
Registered: August 2005
Location: Arizona USA
Posts: 2,365
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T. P. Collection. These were issued in a few places within the State of Zhao between 300 - 250 B.C.E. Here are two examples of Hartill # 4.60 which are described as Type 6, Straight Knife Money. The top example weights 9.6 g. and measures 140 x 16 mm. Bottom specimen is 149 mm x 17 mm. Hartill # 4.60. Obverse characters are 'Bai Bi' (Bai [Ren] coin.
Some of the earliest money was made in China, where coins were cast in the shape of tools such as spades and knives. Utilitarianly worthless, these token objects recollected real implements with actual utility value, items that had traditionally been bartered for livestock and land. The change to a make-believe version in the 7th century BCE increased commerce by easing exchange “ i.e., friction was reduced by lightning the load“ but these coins reminded people at every trade that money was merely symbolic. Knife and spade money arguably countered the abstraction of wealth and the concomitant distortion of values. [NNP, Newman Numismatic Portal article]
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