Bingqian


Bingqian, or Bingxingqian, is a term, which translates into English as "biscuit coins", "pie coins", or "cake coins", used by Chinese and Taiwanese coin collectors to refer to cash coins with an extremely broad rim as, these cash coins can also be very thick. While the earliest versions of the Bingqian did not extraordinarily broad rims.
These cash coins were produced during two distinct periods in Chinese history, first they were produced under Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin dynasty and later again during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song dynasty. Only a very small quantity of Chinese cash coins were ever produced that had these very broad rims and/or had a very thick composition.
While there have been speculations about their use, the purpose of these broad rimmed cash coins have yet to be determined.

Xin dynasty

The first instance of biscuit money had been produced under the reign of Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin dynasty. He reigned between the years 7 and 23 AD and during this era Huo Quan cash coins which are commonly referred to as Binqian were produced, these cash coins were both heavy in weight and thick in their composition, but differed from the later Song dynasty era Bingqian in that their rims were not significantly broader than those of other cash coins.
The inscription of Huo Quan cash coins is read from right to left and they were cast beginning in the year 14 AD. Like the later Bingqian, some heave Huo Quan cash coins have four diagonal lines protruding from the corners of the square centre hole of the coin, while uniquely to these cash coins, they can have large blobs situated both above and below the square centre hole. It is suspected that these Wang Mang era Bingqian might be an early form of Chinese numismatic charms, but the exact meaning of these symbols remain to be discovered.
Regular Huo Quan cash coins tend to have a weight of 3 grams. Huo Quan Bingqian can have a diameter of 23.3 millimeters and a weight of 7 grams, making them heavier than the standard issue Huo Quan cash coins. The largest Huo Quan Bingqian can weigh more than 15 grams.

Song dynasty

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song dynasty, the era names of Xianping, Jingde, Dazhong Xiangfu, and Tianxi were used. Despite these four different reign titles being used during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, the only known Bingqian from this era contain the inscriptions Xianping Yuanbao and Xiangfu Yuanbao, while no authentic Bingqian with the legends Jingde Yuanbao, Xiangfu Tongbao, and Tianxi Tongbao have ever been recorded. Bingqian have been the subject of works written by notable Chinese numismatic scholars such as Ma Dingxiang and Dai Baoting, who have all created different hypotheses about both their origin and function, but why these thicker and heavier cash coins were created remains to be discovered.
There are a far fewer number of Xiangfu Yuanbao Bingqian recorded than Bingqian versions of Xianping Yuanbao cash coins. The most common Xianping Yuanbao cash coins have a thickness between 2.14 – 2.6 millimeters and they tend to have a weight between 2.2 – 5.8 grams, while a Bingqian versionq of the Xianping Yuanbao can have a diameter as wide as 46.7 millimeters and weight as heavy as 73.2 grams. The largest recorded Xianping Yuanbao Bingqian has a diameter of 66 millimeters.
Because Bingqian are thick, they are sometimes confused for mother coins, this is not only because of both their heavier build and in some cases their deeper cut characters. While in the year 2019 a "normal" Xianping Yuanbao was valued only at 2 yuan, a Bingqian Xianping Yuanbao cash coin during this same time was valued at 500 yuan on average.
Many Bingqian have been discovered in the province of Sichuan, and its likely that they originated from this region.
These heavy cash coins with wide rims are not standardised in both their size and their weight, which means that a large variety of Bingqian from this period have been recorded. It is currently unknown whether or not Bingqian actually circulated as an actual form of currency and what their contemporary value was.
It is currently unknown why these very heavy cash coins with broad rims were produced. Chinese numismatist Sun Zhonghui in his Guqian Bitujie attributed these Bingqian with certainty to the Northern Song dynasty period. Furthermore, in Guqian Bitujie he hypothesised that the Bingqian were created in what is now known as Sichuan because the government of the Song dynasty had confiscated all copper items and circulating bronze cash coins, which resulted in a shortage of copper in the region. The government had then introduced iron cash coins, or tieqian, which had dramatically increased the purchasing power of the copper-alloy cash coins while decreasing the purchasing power of iron cash coins. At the time there were three mints operating in Sichuan producing iron cash coins.
Because large and heavy copper-alloy coins like these Bingqian would have had real monetary value in Sichuan at the time, Sun Zhonghui notes that the probability is quite likely that these extraordinarily large cash coins had circulated as a valid currency.

Variants

During the Ming dynasty some Chongzhen Tongbao, which are four lines radiating outward from the four corners of the square centre hole on the reverse side of the coin.