Primitive earliest Chinese coinage - cowrie shell imitation made out of bone with horizontal teeth and with two original holes for stringing. 30mm long, 2.47 grams. Hartill type #1.2 var.; Schjoth #A-5 (for a shell type).

Rare.

Cowries were used as primitive money in China since the 2nd millennium BC. Later on, bronze cowrie-shaped coins and cowrie-shaped coins made out of carved bone (like this piece) were used as money. Schjoth dated the bone types to c.850 BCE, but it is likely these were produced continuously for hundreds of years under the Western Zhou and possibly earlier.

This coin is unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic.