Qing money tree

[Figleaf]

Spotted in the reserve (!) of the Mint museum in Paris. Era Kangxi (Shèngzǔ), Beijing (Ministry of Finance) mint. In view of the decorations, this is likely to be a ceremonial or gift item, symbolically wishing wealth upon the receiver. A traditional Chinese wish is "health, wealth and happiness".

Peter

[scorpio]

Here is an interesting article from the website of Gary Ashkenazy - 'Primal Trek' - featuring further information of  the Chinese Money Trees:-

  Chinese Money Trees

[Figleaf]

Thank you, Scorpio. Indeed, there is a pretty straight connection between luck and money trees and between money trees and the traditional production method of cash coins. The story Ashkenazy mentions, where sweat and blood play a role is an outlier.

The gift (this certainly wasn't the way real coins would come out of a mould) pictured above may have served as a way to show how lucky (= favoured by the gods) the giver was or it may have been a symbolic gift of luck or both. As I think the coins are real, it may even have served as a way to show the power of the giver, who has convinced the mint to produce this ornate gift.

Ashkenazy is quite correct to say that symbolic money trees look less like cash casts and more like art objects. However, the object above is art object at both ends and routine cash cast in-between. The coins looked perfectly good to me. It is thereby an illustration of my argument that the borderline between what Ashkenazy calls coin trees and money trees is so unsharp, that the distinction is not very informative.

Peter