The silver ingots in Ming dynasty were beautiful and generous. Most of them were made of silver ingots in Ming dynasty. The silver dollar treasure that appears in movie TV, all is on this foundation art processing come out. It is known that the largest silver ingot in the Ming dynasty weighs 500 yuan. The large ingot is cast with the casting name, weight and the name of the craftsman, and sometimes the number of the name is still in the small ingot. The Ming dynasty silver ingots and many unearthed.

There are many kinds of ingots in the qing dynasty. Each region has its own representative form. Generally, there are yuanbao shape, round, rectangle, weight shape, waist shape, arch shape, etc. There are four kinds: treasure silver, horseshoe shape, weight 50 two; The second kind is medium ingot, mostly hammer shape, weigh about 10 two, also called small yuan treasure; The third is small Ke or KeZi, the shape of a steamed bun shape, weight 122, also called small ingot; The fourth one is less than one or two pieces of silver, which are called drops, beads, etc.

After casting a silver ingot, it is identified by the public estimation bureau and the weight and color are approved in ink brush. The color of the silver ingot is generally between 95-98, with the appearance of silver special gloss and warm. For the reason of the residual gas in the casting, the bottom of the ingot is an irregular gas cavity, commonly known as the honeycomb. Honeycomb is an important reference condition for the identification of authenticity and color. The honeycomb is deep, the hole is round and bright, the air is full, have the color burnish, the color will be good. If the honeycomb is black and grey, silver ingots are likely to be low-color or fake. The silver surface is easily oxidized, so there is often a layer of black and white oxide silver.
Silver as a currency has a long history in our country. Since the eastern han dynasty, gold has been gradually withdrawn from circulation, and the status of silver has been increasing, and silver ingots have become one of the ancient base currencies. Sycee said silver collar before song dynasty, the silver collar about in The Three Kingdoms and the northern and southern dynasties, to sui and tang dynasties have been increasingly perfect, the shape of silver currency in tang dynasty is given priority to with bread silver and silver collar, usually rectangular strip, at the same time have a pie and boat; In the song dynasty, especially in the southern song dynasty, the use of silver money was more extensive. Song dynasty silver currency shape is given priority to with collar, wider and thicker, compared with Tang Yin form positive micro become warped, four corners in Jordan farmar, first two arc two waist shape, after taking shape of liao, western xia, jin and song difference; The silver ingots made in yuan dynasty were formed from the silver collars of the jin dynasty, with the first waist of the arc, slightly concave in front, and the surrounding silk lines. [1]

Since the beginning of Ming dynasty, silver ingots have developed significantly. The length of ingots in Ming dynasty was shorter than that of the yuan dynasty, but the thickness increased, the waist was smaller, the curved edges of the two ends disappeared, and the periphery increased, especially the ends were more prominent, forming a pair of wings. In the Ming dynasty, the silver ingots that we saw today were mostly in the early period of the Ming and qing dynasties and the early period of the republic of China. This is mainly because the period of pieces of silver to become the main currency, coupled with a private collection, come down relative to some more, by the time a lot of pieces of silver is well preserved by casting is rare, occasionally see also unearthed for more soon. So the collection of pieces of silver is mainly by people in the Ming and qing dynasties two undertakes the pieces of silver, after all, the Ming and qing dynasties pieces of silver in the casting process are more specification, weight, inscriptions and shape, the collection value to be reckoned with. [