CHINA (Qing) | Kweichow (Piaoding 票錠) - 11 Taels 「順合祥」| Shun He Xiang Bank (Two Stamps) | Extra Heavy Type and RARE! - Beautiful Earthen Tones and Patina - Nice Casting Bubbles | 清末貴州商錠- 原汁原味
Today I wanted to share another recent addition This piece is a kettledrum or drum sycee or Piaoding from the late Imperial era of Qing China. This piece is attributed to Guizhou Province, instead of the more common Szechuan drum sycees that I usually see. This is because the Kweichow types, in general, according to Stephen Tai and even Joe Cribb, are MORE ROUND and not OVAL in shape. Moreover, for these Kweichow types, Tai notes how “The local people called them “Lo Lo Yin”, which means “the Basket Silver”. [and] has an evident protruding rim and a circular shape, compared with the 10 tael Drum cast in the neighboring Szechuan, with a rim is not that outstanding and an oval outline.”
We see that this piece has a very circular shape when compared to others and the high rims on the top. We also see the two SAME CHARACTER stamps of 「順合祥」or Shunhexiang on the left and right of the ”nipple“ and this can be attributed to a silver shop. We see these are the only inscriptions—there is no date (e.g., regnal year of say, Kuang Hsu, or cyclical date). Hence, we can say that this is not a government issue type and may have been made by a silversmith.
This piece is quite rare in my opinion, as I could not find any examples in any auction around the world, including the US and China for THIS BANK. Moreover, we see that this piece is EXTRA HEAVY, which can be attributed to the Kweichow types. This piece weighs 416 grams which is slightly above 11 taels or so—whereas many I see are averaging around 360 grams!
This piece features nice and original patina and surfaces from an old American collection I was dealing with. The stamps are legible though, slightly weak on the top character. Nevertheless, there is residual luster and no gouges or test cuts; instead, the piece features original earthy patinas and ample residual luster and otherwise gray and natural tone.
The bottom casting bubbles are original with original patina and ridges from the casting process!
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