Numismatik-Cafe

I’ve seen mention of Chinese Knife Money, Spade Money, Pants Money and Key Money—but “Mirror Money?” Can anyone tell me more about this piece? As you can see, the label reads:

China Chou Dynasty
BC 700-255
Mirror Money

Any help would be much appreciated.

v.

There are many ancient coinlike shaped mirrors of Chinese provenience. For an overview you can klick through this section:

http://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=5407

Your specimen, however, is the first one I have seen attributed to being a coin ... and it's the first I have seen being combined with a handle. So I consider this to be a recent fantasy.

Regards klaupo

Thanks, klaupo . I thought probably it was just too, too "picturesque." Surely, as distinctive as its shape is, it would have appeared as a line-drawing in an old general-interest catalog. But not being well-versed in the coinage of ancient China, and knowing its vastness, I had hoped....

Nope!

v.