HUO QUAN: COIN OF ANCIENT CHINA
Huo quan, 14-23 AD: Chinese Empire (Xin dynasty)
Xin dynasty — a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty (from 9 to 23 AD), established by the Wang Mang, who usurped the throne. This dynasty ruled for a little over a decade before being overthrown by rebels. It is often considered an interregnum period of the Han dynasty, dividing it into the Western Han (or "Former Han") and the Eastern Han (or "Later Han").
Ruler: Wang Mang — the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. During his reign was abolished slavery and 5 monetary reforms were carried out: introduced easier money while canceling the old ones.
Traditional Chinese uniface round coin with a square hole in the center.
Stylized characters 货泉 /read right to left/ translate as "source of goods" (so called "Wealth coin").
- Bronze: 23 mm - 3.12 g
- Reference price: 4$
COIN HUO QUAN — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- ANCIENT CHINA (1st century AD — Xin dynasty): huo quan /sometimes in numismatic catalogues these coins are called either zhu or cash/
HUO QUAN as coin name.
Huo Quan — bronze one-sided coin of China with a square hole in the middle. It was issued at the beginning of the Common Era (from 14 to 23 AD). A characteristic feature is the symbols 货泉 as motto.
It is considered the most widespread coin of the era of the Chinese emperor Wang Mang, who ruled from 9 to 23 AD. There is information that the huo quan coin existed in several variants (different sizes and weights — from less than 2 to more than 20 grams), but with a common legend.
The reign of the usurper Wang Mang is remembered for the prolonged chaos of China's monetary system. Before this emperor, round metal coins, common today, had been issued for a long time. However, Wang Mang tried to bring knife money and spade money (and other non-round coins) back into use. At the same time, gold was confiscated from the wealthy population in exchange for gilded coins. Also, as a result of five monetary reforms, the emperor introduced the practice of using lighter round coins. All these measures were not popular among the people, disturbances regularly occurred.
But in the year 14, Wang Mang carried out another, this time quite successful, monetary reform. Along with the traditional for ancient China shaped spade coins, two new round coins with square holes appeared: the unusual transitional already round Bu Quan ("spade coin") and the slightly smaller Huo Quan.
The term huo quan does not indicate the denomination of the coin. This is a conventional name, which is a translation of the characters "货泉" indicated on it: literally — "source of goods" (sometimes there is a version "source of wealth").
It is probably difficult to say what the actual denomination of the mentioned coin is: some numismatic catalogs call them cash, while others attribute the mentioned specimens to zhu... Be that as it may, the coin went down in history and is widely known to numismatists precisely as huo quan.
