Spade coin is a kind of money shaped like a spade. And those flat-shouldered, arc-footed and hollow-socket ones were cast and issued by the royal family of Zhou in the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods, including large, middle and small sizes. It is more common to see a single character inscribed on such coins instead of two or more than two characters. There are different explanations for the inscriptions with some suggesting the names of some places, others regarding them as the names of a clan or the craftsmen. This coin with five characters cast by royal family of Zhou in the Spring and Autumn period is a rare treasure.

The early Han witnessed several changes to the Banliang coin system, as a result of which, coins of different weight were cast successively. Since the 5th year of Yuanshou (118 BC), Western Han successively cast Junguo Wuzhu coin, Chize Wuzhu coin and Shanglin Sanguan Wuzhu coin and put them in circulation. Wuzhu coins then became the main currency in circulation during the Western Han and Eastern Han dynasties. Among them, the casting of the Shanglin Sanguan Wuzhu coin marked the return of the right to mint coinage to the central authorities and the final establishment of the Wuzhu coin system.

In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang unified the whole country and stipulated that gold was the upper grade currency and ‘Banliang coin’ the lower grade to be in circulation as the country's legal tender. The early Han continued to mint Banliang coins and used gold to measure the currency value.
U-shaped ingot (horseshoe ingot) refers to the gold currency shaped like a horseshoe. According to historical records, U-shaped ingot was minted in the second year of Taishi of Emperor Wu of Western Han (95 BC) as an auspicious sign. Gold currency at that time was generally used for large transactions.

This coin, also known as ‘Jin Cuo Dao (knife inlaid with gold)’ or ‘Cuo Dao (knife money)’ was cast during the first momentary reform in the 2nd year after Wang Mang took power (AD 7). This coin has a unique form, with a round head and a square hole on the top and a knife shape at the bottom. The head part is inlaid with Yi Dao above and below the square hole separately, while the lower part is inlaid with the characters Ping Wu Qian, meaning this coin is worth five thousand small copper coins. Wang Mang carried out monetary reforms four times successively during his reign, all of which ended in failure. Despite of that, the coins cast during this period feature exquisite workmanship and elegant calligraphy, highly cherished by coin collectors.

Stack casting was a main method to mint coins from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Northern and Southern Dynasties. With the stacked pottery fan (mold for casting copper coins), over a hundred of coins could be minted at a time. The production efficiency was higher than vertical casting with sectional molds. This is a mold case for Wuzhu coins minting in the 17th year of the Jianwu period (AD 41). It can be used repeatedly to cast the pottery mold cases. There is the date and other inscriptions on the back of the mold. Wuzhu coins began to be minted in the 16th year of the Jianwu period of Eastern Han (AD 40). This case, dated the 17th year of the Jianwu period, is very valuable for the study of coin minting in the Eastern Han dynasty.

The Zhu Liang monetary system which had been used as the name and unit of the currency was abolished in the 4th year of Wude Period of the Tang dynasty (AD 621). The monetary system of Bao Wen began in practice, with Tong Bao, Zhong Bao used as names for the currency and Wen as the unit.
With the development of a commodity economy in the Tang dynasty, the demand for copper coins surged. But since the mid-Tang dynasty, copper coins became in increasingly short circulation on the market. In the 5th year of Huichang Period (845), Emperor Wuzong of the Tang dynasty implemented the law of ‘Buddha Abolishment’ to collect the bronze statues of Buddha and bronze wares all over the country to cast coins of Kaiyuan Tongbao. Because most of the coins of Kaiyuan Tongbao were minted with the names of prefectures, different from other Kaiyuan coins, they were thus called as Huichang Kaiyuan. In addition to the prefecture name Lan, there are three balls of clouds on the back of the coin, which is quite rare among Huichang Kaiyuan coins.

Tiance Fubao was a coin minted by Ma Yin of the State of Chu during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in the first year of Qianhua (AD 911). Ma Yin was appointed as the Tian Ce Fu General and built the Tiance Mansion. This coin was minted in memory of this event. Tiance Fubao was made in two types, copper and iron coins. Among them, the gilded copper is the most precious and is counted by pieces.

Jushi Gaochang dynasty, founded in 499, was taken by the Tang dynasty in the 14th year of the Zhenguan Period (640). The currency they had used previously was made of gold, silver and copper. Most of the coins of Gaochang Jili were unearthed in the Xinjiang region. The coins were also found in the 16th year Zhenguan Tombs, No. 519 Ancient Tomb at Astana in Turpan Xinjiang in 1973, which indicated that coin of Gaochang Jili was the coin cast by Jushi Gaochang dynasty before the unification of Xinjiang by the Tang dynasty. This kind of coin, heavy and thick, inscribed with official script, is deeply influenced by the currency of the Central Plains.

Paper currency, as a kind of credit currency, began to appear and to be widely used in the Northern Song and Southern Song, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. The printing plate Zhenyou Baoquan Wuguan was used to print paper money when Zhenyou Baoquan paper currency was put in practice in the 7th month of the 3rd year of the Zhenyou Period (1215) by the Emperor Zhangzong of Jin. The plate is made of bronze with the characters written reversed. Outside the flower frame on the top of the plate, it is horizontally written with two characters Wu Guan indicating the denomination of the paper money. On the right of the plate, there are two contract seals obliquely placed meaning the printed note can be cashed in the Prefecture of Jingzhao and Prefecture of Pingliang. Wu Guan Ba Shi Mo in the middle of the flower frame means Wu Guan can only exchange for 4,000 (20% off) Wen in accordance with the Sheng Mo (a monetary system in the Song dynasty, according to which, 77 coins were used as 100 coins) system. At the bottom, it is cast with the inscriptions indicating the sphere of circulation, places for exchange of the paper currency, as well as punishment of forgery and the title of the official position in charge of printing and minting. It is an important material data for the research of the development of Chinese ancient paper money and for the study of ancient Chinese movable type printing as well.

Gold and silver money and bullion were generally not in circulation in the Tang and Song periods, but mainly used for reward, tax payments, etc. All the known gold bars were minted in the Southern Song dynasty. The bars were different in length. Usually a 12 cm gold bar weighed approximately one Liang at that time and was mainly used for reward, tax payments, hedging, deposit and commercial payments. This gold plate also weighs one Liang. It is stamped with Chen Er Lang Shi Fen Jin and Tie Xian Xiang. ‘Chen Erlang’ is the name of the artisan; ‘Shi Fen Jin’ refers to the relative purity of the gold bar; and ‘Tie Xian Xiang’ is the street name of the capital Lin'an of the Southern Song, also referring to the geographic location of the goldsmith.

In the 13th year of the Zhiyuan Period (1276), after the Yuan army conquered the Southern Song and returned to Yangzhou, Prime Minister Bo Yan ordered a search of the outfits of the officers and soldiers. The silver ferreted out was cast into ingots, 50 Liang each. The ingots were tribute to the Emperor, who then granted them to the officers and soldiers to make them circulate in the market. Later, the government also began to cast it. The silver ingots of this kind unearthed today are all marked with the date of the 14th year of Zhiyuan Period, with the official titles of the casting units and the names of the artisans stamped. The quantity of the ingots found is small. The ingot was called Yuan Bao (shoe-shaped silver ingot) since it was incised with the words Yuan Bao on the back and later this became an alternate name for ingot.

Copper coins were mainly minted in the early Ming dynasty while paper currency was only in practice later on. With the collapse of the paper currency system, copper coins were in circulation again. Daming Tongxing Baochao (the general banknote of the Great Ming) was the only paper currency in the Ming dynasty, put in practice in the 25th year of the Hongwu Period (AD 1392), denominated in different values but with the same size.

Yongle Tongbao coins began to be minted in the 6th year of the Yongle reign period of Ming dynasty (AD 1408). But only the Xiaoping coin (1 Wen / cash) was found in circulation. This Yongle Tongbao coin housed in Shanghai Museum is 3 Wen / cash (Zhe San). It is cast with two words, San Qian, indicating that it is a coin recording the weight. It reflects that the state intended to cast the coin recording the weight in five currency values according to the Hongwu Tongbao monetary system. But surprisingly this kind of money was not implemented. So it was actually a sample coin. It is an important material object for the study of coinage system development in the early Ming dynasty.

The traditional square-holed round coins were gradually replaced by machine made coins during the late Guangxu reign period. Anhui province began to mint Ten Cents Equivalent coins in the 28th year of Guangxu period (AD 1902). The copper coins of Five Cents Equivalent and Twenty Cents Equivalent began to be minted only after the 30th year of the Guangxu period (AD 1904). The ten wen square-holed copper coin minted in Anhui province during the Guangxu period was made of pure copper. Unlike other copper coins, this piece, with a square hole in the center, which is very rare in existence, was supposed to be a trial-product of the time.