Moneta Gallery Coin Museum



Users 22,507
Photos 3,383
Comments 351
Views 16,409,050
Disk Space 346.6mb

SunMon TueWed ThuFri Sat
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Moneta 2454
Zantetsuken 293
Chinacash 170
stretrader99z 133
numismatist6 100

Clay_Cowrie1.jpg
China - Clay cowrie
Moneta

[ Archaic: Imitation Cowries ]
White_Stone_Cowrie.jpg
China - White Stone
Moneta

[ Archaic: Imitation Cowries ]
Bronze-cowrie.jpg
China - Bronze Cowri
Moneta

[ Archaic: Imitation Cowries ]
Bone_x3.jpg
CHINA - Bone Cowries
Moneta

[ Archaic: Imitation Cowries ]
C_Moneta_lead_2.jpg
CHINA or Thailand -
Moneta

[ Archaic: Imitation Cowries ]
Bronze_Grate_Cowrie.jpg
China - Bronze 'Grat
Moneta

[ Archaic: Imitation Cowries ]
· more ·

 

« Previous image · Next image »

Wood
CHINA - Ancient Wood Imitation Cowrie - Ex. Detroit Money Museum

« Previous image  · Slide Show · Next image »

Moneta



Registered: August 2005
Location: Arizona USA
Posts: 2,365
users gallery
I was particularly happy to receive a wooden imitation cowrie in the Opitz collection. Someone posted examples in my other Archaic Chinese section. I believe I commented that I thought it was rather unlikely that wood would survive up to 3800 years in the ground. This Charles Opitz collection piece has certain encrustations that make it more believable. It may be made or iron wood, which the Chinese used to make sculptures. It's 32 x 21 x 4 mm and weighs 1.4 g.
I was the lucky winner in Kagin's Auction (Mar 2021) Lot# 4233. It consisted of 19 examples that were previously in the Nate S Shapiro Collection and displayed at the Detroit Money Museum. These were acquired before 1960 but were sold when the Museum closed (~1992). In ancient China cowrie seashells (Cypraea Moneta & C. Annulus) were so valuable that imitations were made to serve as money and grave items.
All of the number tags, unfortunately glued to most of the specimens in the museum collection, are a characteristic of all Charles Opitz collection pieces.


Moneta Library has articles on Cowries to VIEW and DOWNLOAD:
The Worlds's First Money, Chinese Cowries and Their Imitations - by Ted Puls: [ link ]
Cowries - Bob Reis: [ link ]
Origin of Cowries in Ancient China - UofPa: [ link ]
Metallic Cowries - Royal Asiatic Society: [ link ]
Nice Video on Cowrie history: [ link ]
An excellent article in ANA's "Numismatist" magazine, Oct 2017 > [ link ]
SEE how far back in time decorative sea shells were important to prehistoric man at his : [ link ]
Interested in Primitive Money? Then check out this YouTube video created by Kagins Auctions featuring Bob Leonard and Charles Opitz upon the massive sale in March 2021. Click this: [ link ]
The following is by Bob Reis, a prominent numismatic dealer and author:
There are two aspects to cowrie substitutes. One was that cowries had value, it was custom of the time to bury the dead with grave goods, over time the grave goods became more and more imitations of the real thing. The other was that in regions where cowries were scarce they might make imitations for the market, because something was better than nothing.
There are a variety of small bronze items that have been speculatively considered to have been some kind of local money, but they are not mentioned in the classical Chinese monetary and numismatic books. Notwithstanding, some of these objects are found in such large quantities that it seems reasonable to consider them as money objects. The idea that enigmatic bronze objects were early forms of Chinese “money” was popularized in Europe by a monograph written by H. A. Ramsden in 1912.
Zhou dynasty was a confederation of little kingdoms with a figurehead Emperor. Various constituent states started using money in their commercial activities. Odd shaped coins such as spade, knife, ant, nose, yibi, and possible money items like fish and cicada money were followed by the early round coins.
The oldest Chinese coins are at least as old as the earliest Greek coins. The Chinese coinage system differed from other systems in two ways. It was monometallic, only bronze coins circulated in general commerce. Gold and silver were treated as commodities. And the manufacturing method was by casting in moulds rather than by striking heated solid planchets.
· Date: May 23, 2021 · Views: 2,555 · Filesize: 139.4kb · Dimensions: 683 x 500 ·
Keywords: Ancient Wood Imitation Cowrie

« more
Oval_Lead_Cowrie-Sm.jpg
Oval_Lead_Cowrie-Lg.jpg
Clay_Cowrie1.jpg
Bronze_Grate_Cowrie.jpg
Lead-Cowries-Sm_Med.jpg
C_Moneta_lead_2.jpg
Bronze_Ring-Cowrie.jpg
Bone_x3.jpg
Mother-of-Pearl.jpg
Bronze-cowrie.jpg
Wood.jpg
Jadeite2_ob.jpg


Photo Sharing Gallery by PhotoPost
Copyright © 2007 All Enthusiast, Inc.

No portion of this page, text, images or code, may be copied, reproduced, published or distributed in any medium without the expressed written permission of the copyright holder.