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Auction: CSS92C - THE PRESTIGIOUS ACADEMIC REFERENCE COLLECTION OF THE LATE DR. WERNER BURGER - Part 3: Chinese Charms
Lot: 2804

China: Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 CE), coin-shaped charm with square central hole, obverse inscribed 'Wan li feng hou', reverse showing tiger, 31.2*1.6mm, 9.0g, Zhong Qian 75. Extremely rare. Note: Wan li feng hou is an expression first found in A Biography of Ban Chao included in A History of Posterior Han written by Fan Ye in the sixth century AD. Ban Chao (32-102 AD) was a famous military stragegist and diplomat during the Eastern Han period, as an embodiment of both military accomplishments and high literary talents. There are a few different types of charms with the same inscriptions. While they typically show the more common dragon and phoenix motif on the reverse, the present piece is thus far unique: The reverse of the coin shows a tiger on the left of the central hole representing military accomplishments and a cabinet holding roles of writing, representing literary talents.


萬里封侯方穿花錢，背虎，清朝（公元1644–1911），31.2*1.6mm，重9.0g，中乾75。極少見。另：萬里封侯花錢存世多種，多以龍鳳紋為背。此處之錢不同：背穿左為虎，穿右為卷櫃，內插文卷，穿下為吉祥花卉。按，萬里封侯語出自南朝范瞱《後漢書·班超傳》：“祭酒，布衣諸生耳，而当封侯萬里之外。”班超為漢代著名軍事家和外交家，可謂文武雙全。此處之錢，當以虎喻武功，書卷喻文采，以表文武雙全之志向，如此之品實乃花錢之僅見。

Estimate

Starting price
HK$2000