Divers found over 25 tonnes of Chinese copper coins on board the Shinan shipwreck. That’s as heavy as four African elephants!
Chinese coins were round, with square holes in the middle. The hole meant they could be slid onto a square rod to stop them spinning while they were worked on. The hole also meant you could thread them onto strings to be easily carried. Many of Shinan’s coins were still on their strings.
Coins from the wreck, still on their string. Photo from Jon Carpenter, WA Museum
The coins were on their way to Japan. In those days, the Japanese didn’t make their own coins, they imported them from China. Some were melted down to make Buddhist sculptures.
These Chinese coins are called cash (方孔钱), which means ‘square-holed money’. (The English word ‘cash’ is an older, unrelated word that comes from the French caisse, meaning ‘money box’).