Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1891 — A COIN 3,000 YEARS OLD. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A COIN 3,000 YEARS OLD.

A Piece of Money That Is Older Christianity and Is Well Preserved. Mr. J. A. Brudin, of New York City, has some very curious coins. He is a collector of coins from East A«i» and has some pieces very old and interesting. None are more so than the coin ot

King Wu Wang (1122-1116 B. C.). Ifc is called Pu, the word meaning cloth, made from cotton or hemp. It is madeof bronze with raised letters and lines, the characters being in Chinese, but of such ancient date that the modem Chinaman can’t make them out. It is. still well preserved. Another is a knife-shaped coin. It belongs to the dynasty of Tsi (38T-221 B. C.). It is called Tao, which means.

knife or sword. It must be very old and rare, because the letters are not raised but engraved, and seem to be gilded. Mr. Brudin says that the only Chinese coin with gilded letters was coined by usurper Wang Mang (9-22 A. D.). and is called Tso Tas or “gilded knives.” Those are, however, quite different from the knife coin here represented. It is supposed that the Chinese mademoney about 2,800 years before Christ. It was then called Kin Wilch, meaning metal or gold.

KING WU WANG’S COINS—B. C. 1116

COINS OF THE DYNASTS’—B. C. 387.