Two large Chinese characters Ban Liang ("Half an ounce"), large bump below hole, outer rim / Flat, no rims. 24mm, 2.80 grams. Gratzer/Fishman "The Early Round Coins of China" #13.83.

These peculiar “Ao” Ban Liangs exhibit the so-called “hump” – raised metal bumps, usually roughly rectangular in shape, sometimes with rounded corners, in various positions on the coins. These coins are traditionally called Junguowangzhuqian (“provincial vassal coin issues”) and given to Prince Deng Tong of Shu. Prince Deng Tong lived in Nan'an (now Leshan in Sichuan) and was the court official who received a copper mine in Yandao in Shu province (near the present city of Chengdu in Sichuan) from Emperor Wen in 175 BC, when the Emperor allowed and encouraged the private casting of coins.

The traditional assignment to Deng Tong is now doubted for a number of reasons. No historical records or archaeological finds point to Prince Deng Tong. In fact, the find-spots of these coins are spread over much of ancient China, though they are conspicuously absent from Deng Tong’s homeland of Sichuan. The coins are known from the following locations: Zhenping and Yiyang in Henan; Linyi in Shandong, Xi'an in Shaanxi and Jiangling in Hubei. Thus, it seems more likely that it was a locally cast type produced in a number of locations and not connected to Deng Tong at all. So, based on the current level of knowledge, these coins should be considered to be generic local issues (minzhu) from the reign of the Emperor Wen Di.

A Chinese ounce (liang) weighs about 16 grams. The earliest "Ban Liangs" weighed half that much - 8 grams, but the later pieces, like this one, weighed much less. These late Ban Liangs were cast during the reigns of Emperors Wen (180-157 BC) or Jing (157-141 BC), the date of the casting is ca.175-140 BC.

This coin is unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic