Description: Thanks for looking! Shang/Zhou Dynasty Ancient Chinese Curved Clay Cowrie Shell Imitation (#4) Height: 19mm Width: 14mm Clay money (traditional Chinese: 泥錢; simplified Chinese: 泥钱; pinyin: ní qián), or earthenware money (traditional Chinese: 陶土幣; simplified Chinese: 陶土币; pinyin: táo tǔ bì), was a special type of Chinese burial money that started appearing sometime during the Zhou dynasty period. Clay money was created as an alternative to burying actual money with the deceased in the hopes of preventing the grave to be "disturbed" by graverobbers. In the book Han Material Culture written by the Sinologist Sophia-Karin Psarras it is stated that any representation of real life currency was considered legal tender that could be used as a medium of exchange in the afterlife.This belief helped the transition of using real bronze, silver, and / or gold money in Chinese graves with surrogate forms of money made of clay. As these imitations of money made from clay had no actual value in "the world of the living" they would deter grave robbers from breaking in and "disturbing" the dead. Because clay money is so cheap to produce it was used by both the wealthy and impoverished, as the poor could afford to buy these clay imitations of actual coins to bury with their deceased relatives. Clay money for funerary uses could be based on "low money" or "low currency" (下幣), such as copper-alloy cash coins, or on "high money" or "high currency" (上幣). "High currency" is a term that referred to silver and gold currencies that were produced during the Warring States, Qin dynasty, and Han dynasty periods. While initially the aristocracy tended to buried with genuine specimens of "high currency", later clay versions of these coinages were also produced. Clay cowrie shell money (traditional Chinese: 泥貝幣; simplified Chinese: 泥贝币; pinyin: ní bèi bì) is often found the graves of the wealthy, sometimes alongside real money. Clay cowrie shell money are inspired by the earliest money in the monetary history of China. *** Reach out to me with any and all questions you have. This item will ship with tracking. *** This item will ship well packed!
Price: 6 USD
Location: Post Falls, Idaho
End Time: 2024-12-09T20:32:44.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
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Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Provenance: Ownership History Not Available
Era: Ancient
Country/Region of Manufacture: China
