Posted on 08/30/2007 10:11:43 AM PDT by blam
1.5 tons of ancient coins discovered in north China
+ - 21:20, August 30, 2007
A cellar containing 1.5 tons of ancient coins, including some 2,000-year-old ones, have been discovered by a villager in Changzi County, north China's Shanxi Province.
The man in Qianwanhu village discovered the cellar with some 10,000 coins, ranging from 3 cm to 1 cm in diameter, on Aug. 23 when he was digging a channel to place pipes for tap water, said Li Lin, an official of the Changzi Center of Cultural Heritage and Tourism.
The "money cellar" was 1.5 meters under the earth, with coins being piled orderly into a cuboid of 1.3 meters long, 0.65 meter wide and one meter high, Li said.
Most of the coins were made during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) with the remainders made during Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907), Li said.
Many coins were in good condition, and characters on the surface were still legible, while some others were rusty. The largest coin is 3 cm in diameter and the smallest is one cm, Li said.
Archaeologists said the coins were there for three reasons: the coins were liege lords' private wealth; or they were buried by ancient Chinese private banks during war; or they belonged to rich people who buried them during war but had forgotten.
The coins have been sent to local cultural relics authorities.
Source: Xinhua
Proof that the peoples who crossed the Bering Straits in prehistoric times had established casinos in the old country first...
Yup. Those are displayed outside their houses.
I wonder if the villager gets anything out of this other than a “Well done comrade, we will take it from here and remove the stress of this great nuisance from you. You must be grateful to the People’s Republic that you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Hopefully he took out most of the coins and buried them somewhere else before reporting the rest to the commies.
Because you're not a back country dirt farmer in Commie China?
“..belonged to rich people who buried them during war but had forgotten.”
I am far from being rich, but I am trying like hell to remember where I buried my coins if I ever did.
I guess they found Al Gore’s ‘lockbox’.
“1.5 tons of Yap coin.”
Nice pic...I bet Bill Clinton would “hit it”
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Just an FYI...a friend's husband owns one of those free standing wash your own car places...and he has these big canister vacs. Well (kinda gross) but my friend says he 'sifts' thru the debris...and gets $100s of dollars in coins each year. Also some pieces of lost jewelry that just get vacuumed up. Quite the treasure trove (but stinky no doubt).
Phooey. Probably the 'vault' of some long gone tax collector.
What—in China? You find the big surprise and, big surprise, the gov’t simply confiscates it. And if you found it in the US the IRS would put a value on “treasure” then tax you 50% of that value because, well, you won the lottery.
LOL, dig your own trench... and your neighbors will probably sick the Homeowner's Association on you.
I hope the man who found them...gets the wealth of all the coins. Wonder if that’ll happen with the Chicoms?
Have you noticed the latest scam with these shows?
Act now and we'll send you an additional rare coin free, you just pay SEPARATE SHIPPING AND HANDLING.
-PJ
Wow! Thanks.
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