American Numismatic Society: Silver 20 Tael of Jian He, China, AD 147

Identifier: 1937.179.19841
Department: East Asian
Collection: American Numismatic Society
Provenance
- Gift of Miss Frances S. Reilly: Coll. of her father John Reilly Jr.

Bruce Rusk (Associate Professor, Dept. of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia), noted in April 2014 the similarity between this ingot and another in the collection of the British Museum (BM 1978.0636.126, ex-collection Eduard Kahn, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=363106andobjectId=931138andpartId=1). "One reason for doubting the authenticity of these ingots is that the “honeycomb” pattern on the bottom looks to be artificially induced, rather than consisting of natural bubbles, and is oddly similar in the two ingots.", he wrote.As per Joe Cribb (1979): Appendix III. Han silver ingots. 'None of the silver ingots datable to the Han period has come from an attested archaeological source. Although some of them are said to have been excavated no reliable witnesses of the facts have been named. Nevertheless, the authenticity of these pieces is generally accepted (Yang Lien-sheng, 'Money and Credit in China', 1952, p. 43). However, the similarity of most of these ingots to pieces proven to be of the medieval period must raise a question mark over their authenticity.'

Silver 20 Tael of Jian He, China, AD 147 - AD 168. 1937.179.19841