Study On The Spade Coin Of The State Of Wei

403 B.C., State of Han, Zhao, and Wei divided up State of Jin. At the beginning of the state foundation, Marquess Wei appointed Li Kui, the ancestor of the Legalist School as the prime minister, carried out the social reform, and greatly promoted the strength of State of Wei. Finally, it became a strong country at the early phase of the Warring State. With the development of the productivity and economy, State of Wei minted a great amount of spade coins. The development of such space coins has profound influence in the currency history of State of Wei. On the basis of the predecessors’ research, this paper divides the spade coins of that period into handed-down spade coin and unearthed spade coin, and marks their unearth time, location, quantity, currency type and data source, so as to record more details. In the early phase, State of Wei regarded Anyi as the capital; in the later phase, it regarded Daliang(Kaifeng) as the capital. The spade coins of State of Wei minted coins by making use of the toponymy, such as Anyi, Daliang, etc. Besides, the mintage belonged to the country. With the development of the economy, some small- and medium-size cities and towns started to mint the coins under the influence of the spade coins in State of Wei, and also added the name of the places. The spade coins, such as “Muhe”, “Yinjin”, “Gaonv”, etc., were minted in local place, which reflects the expansion of the commercial trade in State of Wei. The spade coins minted in State of Wei had high development degree and created its own system. The zimuxiangquan reflected by the spade coins of State of Wei almost covered all spaced coins. The coordination of “large copper coins” and “small copper coins” reduced the inconvenience in the economic development. “Jin” and “Lue” system was carried out by space coin of State of Wei. The minted spade coin “Liangdanglue” highlighted the currency exchange function of the spade coin of State of Wei in the economy exchange, and affected the currency development of the surrounding countries. The great unearthed spade coins in the regions of its surrounding countries reflects the trade between State of Wei and other countries, and also highlights the important status of such coins and its important role in the circulation.