Author Description

Product Description This publication brings together the results of metallurgical analysis on Chinese coins undertaken at the British Museum during the last 15 years. The largest project looked at the metal content of Chinese cash coins over a period of more than 2,000 years. Although the results of the survey were published in 1989, the full details of the survey and photographs of the coins tested are presented here for the first time, along with an introduction by Joe Cribb and comments by Michael Cowell. Since then, smaller metallurgical projects have been undertaken at the British Museum, looking at specific questions, such as the iron content of Song dynasty coins, the brass content of Qing dynasty coins, and the question of metal supply for Qing dynasty coins. The results of these projects are brought together here for ease of reference, and are presented in chronological order of the material examined. In the last decade, numismatists and scientists in China have also been looking at similar questions, using coins from archaeological sites. Zhou Weirong's new book, Chinese Coins: Alloy Composition and Metallurgical Research, is now available, and an English version of the introduction, postscript and contents pages are published here. About the Author Joe Cribb is the former Keeper of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, where he worked for forty years as a curator of Asian coins and currencies. He has published many articles on Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite coins and on the processes of numismatic research. In 1997 he was awarded the Ikuo Hirayama Silk Road Art and Archaeology prize, in 1999 the Royal Numismatic Society’s medal, and in 2008 the American Numismatic Society’s Archer M. Huntington Medal. He was President of the Royal Numismatic Society 2005–2010, and has been Secretary General of the Oriental Numismatic Society since 2011.