Although there is no mention in the literature of their purchasing power, it is clear that they were not small change. They are found in hoards of hundreds rather than thousands, sometimes tied together in bundles.
The alloy of these coins is typically 80% copper, 15% lead, and 5% tin. The characters can be found on the left or right of the central line and may be inverted or retrograde. Over two hundred inscriptions are known, many of which have not been fully deciphered. The style of writing is consistent with that of the middle Zhou period. The crude writing is that of the artisans who made the coins, not the more careful script of the scholars who wrote the votive inscriptions on bronze. The inscriptions on these coins usually consist of one character, usually either a number, a cyclical character, a place name, or the name of a clan. Archaeological evidence dates them to the early spring and autumn period, approximately 650 BC and onward. They have been found in quantities of up to several hundred in the area corresponding to the Royal Domain of Zhou (south Hebei and north Henan). Square shoulder spades: characteristics of this type of spade coin include square shoulders, a straight or slightly curving foot, and three parallel lines on the obverse and reverse.Inscribed specimens appear to date from c. Some of these objects have been found in Shang and Western Zhou tombs, dating from 1200-800 BC. Prototype spade money bears an inscription of the name of its issuing city. While some examples are robust enough to have been used in the fields, others are much lighter. Prototype spade money: this type of spade money is similar in shape and size to the original agricultural implements.In the socket, the hole that fixes the tool to its handle is also reproduced. This socket is rectangular in its cross-section and still retains the clay from the casting process. Although flimsy, they retain the hollow socket where a handle would be attached for use as a genuine tool.
Hollow-handled spades ( Chinese: 布幣 pinyin: bùbì) are a link between weeding tools used for barter and stylised objects used as money. 4.1 Criticism of Guanzhuang being the site of the world's oldest known mint hypothesis.Though the spade coins that were found at the Guanzhuang site are not as old as the metal coins that were discovered in the ancient city of Ephesus. Meaning that it is possible that the earliest known coinage was invented by the Chinese and not the Lydians as is commonly believed. In 2021 a paper was published about an old mint that was discovered at an archeological site in Henan Province, through radiocarbon-dating the spade money found there was attributed to have been created between 640 BCE and no later than 550 BCE making it possibly the world's oldest known mint. Under the Xin dynasty created by Wang Mang spade money was reintroduced there were 12 different types of spade money in the Xin dynasty, ranging in values from 100 to 1000 qián. Several versions of spade money circulated across the Chinese Central Plains during the Zhou dynasty period until they were abolished by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC in favour of the Ban Liang cash coins. Later versions of spade money had this socket was transformed into a thin, flat piece, and over time, inscriptions were added to the spade coins to mark their denominations. The earlier versions of spade coins tended to have a fragile, hollow socket, reminiscent of a metal shovel. Spade money was shaped like a spade or weeding tool, but the thin blade and small sizes of spade money indicate that it had no utilitarian function. Spade money ( traditional Chinese: 布幣 simplified Chinese: 布币 pinyin: bù bì) was an early form of coin and commodity money used during the Zhou dynasty of China (1045 to 256 BC). Square Shoulder Spade coin from the State of Zhou.
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