Around 679 BC, the prince of China authorized metal knives to be accepted as payment for fines of slight offenses. Early knife money was inscribed with the name of the issuing place . Added later were also the names of places where they would be accepted. Ensuing inscriptions were simplified to the value and place of issue. In 5AD the Wang Ming Dynasty introduced knives carrying the inscription “Yi Tao P’ ing Wu Chien”. On some, the “Yi Tao” parts were etched out and gold inlay was added. It is believed, this appreciated the value from 1 to either 500, 1000 or 5000 cash.
The first true ringed bi-metallics were most likely a series of Roman
medallions struck depicting second-century emperors such as Trajan (98-117
AD), Hadrian (117-138AD) and Commodus (180-193AD). These usually
resembled a sestertius coin and had a 8-10mm copper ring around the rim.
They were used as centerpieces in military standards, as many today bear
the marks of mounting or still have the standard attached.
The 4th century Hephtilites that invaded Iran and the Hsuing-nu who
passed through early China, are often called Huns even though their ancestry
to the invaders of Europe is uncertain. Somewhere in what is presently
Afghanistan, one of these descendant cultures produced the final bi-metallic
coin of this period. This thin silver 720AD Hunnic imitation of a
Sasanian drachma has cast into one side a small gold pellet. It also
carries legends in Brahmi, Pehlvi and cursive Greek. Brahmi is the
ancestor of all Indian writing systems, while Pehlvi was the language of
the kings of Persia.
NOTE gold pellet area. The author ‘blew it up’ and pasted
it behind the obv & rev scans
The exact purpose of these early bi-metallics are at best speculation
given there are few written records for the period. Were they used
to increase value, for ceremony, to make trading easier, to thwart
forgeries or simply experiments---only a real time traveler may ever know.
As it turns out, the Italian Mint, recognized for introducing modern ringed
bi-metallic coins in 1982, was simply following a path started nearly 2
millennia ago.
Larry Friemel, the author of this piece, is a member of the Whittier
CA Coin Club and provides the ‘Help Desk’ for the World
Wide Bi-metallic Collectors Club (WBCC). After twenty years collecting
U S coins, Larry switched to bi-metallics to revitalize his interest in
numismatics. This direction was sparked three years ago by his curiosity
in the ‘unusual’ coins featured on the cover of the 5th Edition of “Collecting
World Coins”, Krause Publications. After finding bi-metallics were
not just a modern day phenomena, he became interested in identifying and
collecting earlier examples of bi-metallic currency and exonumia.
Larry is currently working on a reference source documenting the “Bi-metallic
Evolution and Revolution”. If you have ‘other’ examples of early
bi-metallics, he would be interested in hearing from you. He can
be reached at lfriemel@internetconnect.net
From Calcoin News, Vol 53, No. 1, Winter 1999