Coins Story-1981 Bronze Ware artifacts

亚高

Coins Story-1981 Bronze Ware artifacts

By Peter Anthony

To the outside world coins are objects provided by faceless governments. In reality coins are the products of people. Here are a few stories about modern Chinese coins and the people who made them.

From the very beginning in 1979 the People’s Bank of China set the priorities that launched PRC coins to their prominence today. According to an account by Mr. Hu Fuqing(translated by Mr. Frank Wang) the goal was to make coins that were equal or better than the state of  the art in the world – unique, exquisite, and graceful. Geng Daoming, the Vice Governor of the Bank of China at the time, declared three principles: the designs must be of the highest artistic quality; the workmanship must be superb and the decorative accessories must also be beautiful.

This emphasis on aesthetic excellence remains one of the strengths of modern Chinese coins to this day.

As with any new project there was a learning curve for the China Mint as it began to trade with foreign markets. Some experiences were very good, but not everything went smoothly. One story I have been told concerns an early set of coins; the 1981 Bronze Ware artifacts. An American distributor signed an agreement with the China Mint for their production. The entire mintage was supposed to be several thousand, but the initial shipment was only a thousand sets. The Mint expected the distributor to accept the balance of the sets later so it struck the full amount.As it happened there was no penalty in the contract for not buying the rest of the coins. The distributor refused to pay for any more, so with little other choice the China Mint apparently melted down the surplus. The declared mint age is 1,000 sets, the quantity in the first delivery.

I find it ironic that while the American distributor took advantage of a contract loophole to save some money, he likely cost himself much greater profits later on. When the China Mint began to look for distributors to sell the Panda coin series this dealer was not considered. At first,the largest distributor for Panda coins was Taisei in Japan. Before long, though, the top sales position was taken over by an American company, Panda America.

Panda America was founded and owned by Martin Weiss. Mr. Weiss was a businessman with a strong sense for marketing and promotion. He also appreciated the artistic quality and integrity of Chinese coins. He soon was introduced to an important member of the technology department at the Shanghai Mint, Mr. Zhu Chunde. The two would work together for the next twenty years.

This is what Mr. Weiss recalls about Mr. Zhu, “Mr. Zhu Chunde is somebody who helped design the coins. He is somebody whom I worked with quite a bit from the beginning until the year 2000.”

“He was very good artistically and he could draw.  If you gave him a concept he could make a drawing of it, like the Great Wall Panda, or the Inventions and Discoveries.”

“As soon as I presented the idea for the Inventions and Discoveries of China he said, “That will get approved.””

“We worked together from 1982 on. He was at all the Panda distributor meetings because he was the key man. There were many people who came and went. They were transferred to other departments and so on. But he was always in charge of the actual making of the coins and their designs. Because he was so talented he wouldn’t be shifted to other departments.He was the man.”

The two men made a powerful creative pair who collaborated on many milestones in modern Chinese numismatics. They are an example of how the talents of many people helped fulfill Geng Daoming’s intent to make modern Chinese coins second to none.

译文：

对于外界来说，硬币是一个毫无个性的政治载体。事实上，硬币的题材来源于人们。我想向大家讲一些关于中国现代贵金属币和铸造者的故事。

从1979年初，中国人民银行设立优先权推动了中国硬币今天的声名鹊起。根据胡福庆先生（费兰克·王先生翻译）描述的目标：使硬币达到或超过当时世界工艺水平——独特、精致、优美。耿道明，时任中国人民银行副行长，声明了三个原则：设计必须达到最高的艺术质量；工艺必须精湛；装饰的配件也必须是优美的。强调审美与追求艺术至今仍然是中国现代贵金属币的优势之一。

随着新项目的出现，中国造币厂开始与国外市场进行交易来往，在这个过程中经历与学习是件好事，但并非一帆风顺。有人曾经告诉过我一个关于1981年出土文物青铜器金币的故事。一位美国经销商和中国造币厂签订了一项购买协议，这套金币总共发行量应该是几千套，但首批运输只有一千套。造币厂认为这位经销商会接受剩余的数量，于是全数铸造了。然而，合同并未涉及如果经销商不够买剩余钱币的赔偿条款，最终这位经销商拒绝支付余款。毫无选择的中国造币厂显然只能回炉融毁。这套金币公布的发行量便仅仅是第一批发货的1000套。

我觉得很讽刺的是，虽然这位美国经销商利用合同漏洞这一优势节省了一些钱，但之后他们或许失去更多的利润。当中国造币厂开始寻找经销商销售熊猫系列币时并未考虑这位经销商。最开始，熊猫币最大的经销商是日本的泰星公司。但不久后，最高销售量的地位被美国熊猫公司取代了。

马丁·维斯是美国熊猫公司创始人和拥有人。维斯先生是一位具有强烈市场营销和推广意识的商人，他很赞赏中国钱币的艺术质量和完整性。很快他就被介绍给了上海造币厂技术部门一名重要成员朱纯德先生，此后两人携手合作了未来的二十年。

“朱纯德先生帮助设计钱币，是从一开始与我工作直到2000年”，维斯先生回忆。

“他有非常卓越的艺术细胞并且可以设想构图。如果你给他一个概念他便能画出图来，像长城、熊猫、发明发现。”

“当我提及中国发明发现系列这个想法的时候他说，'这需要得到批准。' ”

“从1982年起我们就一起工作 ，由于他是个关键人物，所以他参加过所有熊猫经销会议。许多人来了走了，或者纷纷调转其他部门等等情况。但由于他的天赋他一直都负责硬币设计和制造而不曾调去其他部门，他就是这样的人。”

这对强大的创意组合合作创造了中国现代钱币事业许多个里程碑。他们是帮助这对强大的创意组合合作创造了中国现代钱币事业许多个里程碑。他们是才华横溢的精英团队中帮助耿道明铸造无出其右的中国贵金属币目标的典范。

杨瑞江

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