Premium Recommendation - Kaiyuan Tongbao with the moon pattern on the reverse side

*本次藏品：背月开元通宝*

典藏尺寸：重：3.6g直径：24.9mm/重：3.1g直径：24.0mm

隋末，国家经济因大规模工程与外扩战略陷入极度危机，货币质量恶化，民间甚至出现剪铁、裁皮、糊纸为钱的乱象 。唐高祖李渊初入长安时，流通的线环钱价值极低，“凡八九万才满半斛”，物价飞涨，钱法大乱，经济复苏急需币制改革 。自西汉武帝元狩五年（前 118 年）至唐初武德四年（621 年），五铢钱流通已超七百年，大小轻重无统一标准，通货状态混乱，为开元通宝诞生提供了历史背景 。

唐高祖武德四年（621 年），国内疆土初定，政局 “拨乱反正，爰创轨模”，遂废五铢，行开元通宝，开启中国货币史伟大改革 。它一改历代以 “铢”“两” 为钱名的制度，取名 “开元通宝”，“开元” 典出汉代班固《东都赋》“夫大汉之开元也，夺布衣以登皇位”，意为开辟新纪元；“通宝” 即通行宝货 。由给事中欧阳询监制并书写钱文，成为中国通宝钱始祖，终结钱币以重量为钱文的历史，向抽象化、符号化转轨 。

沿用秦半两、汉五铢的方孔圆钱造型，外圆内方 。初唐武德开元光背无文、外郭较细；中唐起钱背出现星月及其他纹饰，外郭变宽变粗；晚唐会昌开元在钱背加铸钱局所在地名 。一般每文重一钱，十文重一两，一千文（一贯）重六斤四两（唐时一斤十六两 ）。

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the national economy fell into an extreme crisis due to large-scale engineering projects and expansion strategies. The quality of currency deteriorated, and even chaotic phenomena emerged in the private sector, such as cutting iron, tailoring leather, and pasting paper to make "money". When Li Yuan (Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty) first entered Chang'an, the circulating "Xianhuan Qian" (a type of coin with a hole) had extremely low value. "It took about eighty to ninety thousand coins to fill half a hu (a unit of volume)", prices soared, the monetary system was in chaos, and the economic recovery urgently needed currency reform. From the fifth year of Yuanshou in the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (118 BC) to the fourth year of Wude in the early Tang Dynasty (621 AD), the Wuzhu coins had been in circulation for more than seven hundred years. There was no unified standard for their size and weight, and the currency system was in chaos, providing a historical backdrop for the birth of Kaiyuan Tongbao.

In the fourth year of Wude (621 AD) of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, with the domestic territory initially stabilized and the political situation "correcting chaos and establishing a new framework", the Wuzhu coins were abolished, and Kaiyuan Tongbao was implemented, launching a great reform in China's monetary history. It changed the previous system where coin names were based on "zhu" and "liang" (units of weight). The name "Kaiyuan Tongbao" was adopted: "Kaiyuan" originates from Ban Gu's *Dongdu Fu* (Rhapsody on the Eastern Capital) in the Han Dynasty, which states, "When the Great Han Dynasty began its reign, it elevated commoners to the throne", meaning "opening a new era"; "Tongbao" refers to circulating treasure currency. Supervised and inscribed by Ouyang Xun, a Jishizhong (a court official), it became the ancestor of China's Tongbao coins, ending the history of coins being named after weight and shifting towards abstraction and symbolization.

Kaiyuan Tongbao followed the square-hole round coin shape of the Qin Banliang and Han Wuzhu coins, with a round outer rim and a square inner hole. In the early Tang Dynasty (Wude period), Kaiyuan coins had a smooth back without patterns and a thin outer rim; from the middle Tang Dynasty, stars, moons, and other decorative patterns appeared on the back, and the outer rim became wider and thicker; in the late Tang Dynasty, Huichang Kaiyuan coins had the names of mint locations cast on their backs. Generally, each coin weighed one qian (a unit of weight), ten coins weighed one liang, and one thousand coins (one guan) weighed six jin and four liang (in the Tang Dynasty, one jin was equal to sixteen liang).

*本次藏品：背月开元通宝*

典藏尺寸：重：3.6g直径：24.9mm/重：3.1g直径：24.0mm

开元通宝是唐代铸造的重要铜质货币，唐高祖武德四年（公元 621 年 ），为整治混乱币制，废隋钱，效仿西汉五铢规范开铸，是唐代第一种货币，在中国钱币形制发展史上意义重大，简称开元钱、通宝钱，“开元” 有 “开国奠基” 之意，“通宝” 为 “流通宝货”，反映当时人们对货币作用认知深化，其影响中国一千多年铸钱形制、钱文模式和十进位衡法，还成为大五帝钱一部分，被认为有辟邪、旺财功效 。

背月的 “月” 有多样形态，像上月、下月、斜月、俯月、仰月等，形状变化丰富，有的较直如杠，有的相对弯曲 。除单独月纹，还有星月组合等版本，如月孕星，即月纹中含星纹，增添独特视觉效果。

一般而言，背星月的开元通宝面文和光背开元通宝面文有差异：“開” 字中 “井” 更低、更靠近内郭；“元” 字第一笔长，第二笔上挑明显；“通” 字中 “甬” 字开口渐小，走字底由分离四撇渐相连；“寳” 字宝盖头和中部有多种变化，“尔” 字中 “小” 渐变为三竖 。虽星月多在背面，面星也不少见，常见通下星、宝下星和裆下星等。

除主流铜质，还有金、银、铁、铅、陶、玳瑁等材质 。金、银质开元通宝仅供皇家显贵赏赐把玩，不流通，存世量极小，1970 年西安何家村唐代窑藏曾出土金开元 30 枚、银开元 421 枚，钱径略小（约 2.4 厘米 ），形制和钱文字体与初唐铜钱相似 。陶质为冥币，陕西法门寺地宫出土的玳瑁钱是供佛特制 。

因缺乏充分史料和出土实物论证，铸造方法存多种猜测，包括失蜡法、硬型范铸法、钱模夹铸法、印范法、锡母翻砂法、母钱翻砂法等 。失蜡法依据初唐开元工艺精湛及 “询初进腊样日，文德皇后掐一甲迹，固钱上有掐文” 之说；硬型范铸法因唐早期开元钱轮郭深峻、穿孔口部大小一致，符合其铸钱特点；钱模夹铸法参考《天工开物》记载，利用铁钳钳嘴型腔制钱；印范法被认为是中晚期过渡性铸钱法，促进翻砂法形成；锡母翻砂法和母钱翻砂法则依据古代文献中关于样钱、锡母的记载推理 。

开创通宝元宝币制，沿用 1300 多年，直至民国成立后废除 。它是中国度量衡十进位制开端，以十进位的一两十钱制由此而来，告别钱币以半两和五铢标重命名的传统，建立以 “宝” 为钱文煞笔的宝文钱制新纪元，影响后世铸币深远 。

对唐朝周边国家货币制度产生直接深远影响，诞生后在东亚地区形成以中国为中心的东方货币文化体系，促进东亚乃至东南亚部分国家和地区货币制度稳定与经济发展，如粟特地区铸币受唐影响，体现古代丝绸之路文化交流下的货币传播 。

钱文由楷书名家欧阳询题写，“开元通宝” 四字楷书端正峻拔，融合隶书笔意，“含八分篆隶，结构精严”，展现唐代书法艺术高度 。不同版别、纹饰（如月纹等 ）蕴含丰富文化寓意与历史故事，从民俗祥瑞崇拜到宗教文化映射，从名人附会到文化交流融合，成为研究唐代文化、社会心理的微观载体，每一枚开元通宝都是盛唐气象缩影，是连接古今的文明印记，诉说千年前辉煌与智慧 。

开元通宝作为唐代核心货币，在历史沿革、形制工艺、版别文化及国际影响等方面，都深刻体现唐代政治、经济、文化的多元面貌，是中国古代货币文化宝库中极具价值的瑰宝，持续吸引后世从历史、收藏、艺术等维度探索解读，传承唐代文明脉络 。

Kaiyuan Tongbao was an important copper currency minted in the Tang Dynasty. In the fourth year of the Wude reign (621 AD), Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty abolished Sui coins to rectify the chaotic monetary system and began casting coins following the standards of the Western Han Wuzhu coins. As the first currency of the Tang Dynasty, it held significant meaning in the developmental history of Chinese coinage, commonly abbreviated as Kaiyuan Qian or Tongbao Qian. "Kaiyuan" means "founding a nation and laying its foundation," while "Tongbao" signifies "circulating treasure currency," reflecting the deepened understanding of the role of currency at that time. It influenced the coinage shape, inscription pattern, and decimal measurement system in China for over a thousand years and became part of the Great Five Emperor Coins, believed to have the effects of dispelling evil and attracting wealth.

The "moon" patterns on the reverse side of Kaiyuan Tongbao exhibit diverse forms, such as upper moon, lower moon, slanting moon, downward moon, upward moon, etc., with rich variations in shape—some are as straight as bars, while others are relatively curved. In addition to single moon patterns, there are also versions with star-moon combinations, such as the "moon with a star" (a star pattern within the moon pattern), adding a unique visual effect.

Generally, the front inscriptions of Kaiyuan Tongbao with star-moon patterns differ from those with a smooth reverse: the "井" (well) component in the character "開" (kai) is lower and closer to the inner rim; the first stroke of the character "元" (yuan) is longer, and the second stroke is obviously upturned; the opening of the "甬" component in the character "通" (tong) gradually narrows, and the bottom radical (走) evolves from four separate dots to connected ones; the treasure cover and middle part of the character "寳" (bao) show various changes, and the "小" (small) in the "尔" component gradually transforms into three vertical strokes. Although star-moon patterns mostly appear on the reverse, front stars are also common, such as stars below "通" (tong), below "寳" (bao), and below the crotch (between characters).

Besides the mainstream copper material, there were also Kaiyuan Tongbao coins made of gold, silver, iron, lead, pottery, tortoiseshell, etc. Gold and silver Kaiyuan Tongbao were only used for rewards and play by the royal family and nobility, not in circulation, with extremely small surviving quantities. In 1970, the Hejia Village Tang Dynasty hoard in Xi'an unearthed 30 gold Kaiyuan and 421 silver Kaiyuan coins, with slightly smaller diameters (about 2.4 cm), whose shapes and inscription fonts were similar to early Tang copper coins. Pottery ones served as funerary coins, while the tortoiseshell coins unearthed from the Famen Temple地宫 (underground palace) were specially made for worship.

Due to the lack of sufficient historical records and unearthed relics, there are multiple speculations about the casting methods, including the lost-wax method, hard-mold casting, coin-mold clamping casting, seal-mold casting, tin-mother sand-casting, and mother-coin sand-casting. The lost-wax method is based on the exquisite craftsmanship of early Tang Kaiyuan and the saying that "when Ouyang Xun first presented the wax model, Empress Wende left a fingernail mark, hence the掐文 (fingernail pattern) on the coin"; the hard-mold casting method is supported by the deep rims and consistent perforation sizes of early Tang Kaiyuan coins, which conform to its casting characteristics; the coin-mold clamping casting method refers to the record in *Tian Gong Kai Wu* (Exploitation of the Works of Nature), using the cavity of iron pliers' jaws to make coins; the seal-mold casting is considered a transitional casting method in the middle and late periods, promoting the formation of sand-casting; the tin-mother and mother-coin sand-casting methods are inferred from ancient documents about sample coins and tin mothers.

Kaiyuan Tongbao initiated the Tongbao-Yuanbao monetary system, which was used for more than 1,300 years until it was abolished after the founding of the Republic of China. It marked the beginning of the decimal system in China's weights and measures, giving rise to the decimal system of "one liang equals ten qian," bidding farewell to the tradition of naming coins by weight (such as Banliang and Wuzhu) and establishing a new era of the Baowen (treasure inscription) monetary system with "宝" (bao) as the ending character of coin inscriptions, profoundly influencing later coinage.

It had a direct and far-reaching impact on the monetary systems of surrounding countries of the Tang Dynasty. After its birth, an Oriental monetary culture system centered on China formed in East Asia, promoting the stability of monetary systems and economic development in East Asia and even some countries and regions in Southeast Asia. For example, the coinage in the Sogdian region was influenced by the Tang Dynasty, reflecting the monetary dissemination under the cultural exchange of the ancient Silk Road.

The coin inscriptions were written by Ouyang Xun, a master of regular script. The four regular script characters "开元通宝" (Kaiyuan Tongbao) are upright and vigorous, integrating the brushwork of official script, "containing elements of clerical and seal scripts with precise structure," demonstrating the high level of calligraphic art in the Tang Dynasty. Different editions and patterns (such as moon patterns) contain rich cultural meanings and historical stories—from folk auspicious worship to religious culture reflection, from celebrity anecdotes to cultural exchange and integration—making them micro-carriers for studying Tang culture and social psychology. Each Kaiyuan Tongbao is a microcosm of the grandeur of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, a civilized印记 (mark) connecting ancient and modern times, telling the glory and wisdom of a thousand years ago.

As the core currency of the Tang Dynasty, Kaiyuan Tongbao profoundly reflects the pluralistic aspects of Tang politics, economy, and culture in terms of historical evolution, shape craftsmanship, edition culture, and international influence. It is a highly valuable treasure in the treasure house of ancient Chinese monetary culture, continuously attracting later generations to explore and interpret it from historical, collecting, artistic, and other dimensions, inheriting the context of Tang civilization.

*本次藏品：背月开元通宝*

典藏尺寸：重：3.6g直径：24.9mm/重：3.1g直径：24.0mm

以上藏品相关信息请与：四川尚亿拍卖有限公司联系。 

For information about the above collections, please contact: Sichuan Jun Zailai Auction Group Co.