I2Ö

THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

a  copper  coinage  in  China  must  depend  upon  the  gol  ex
change  with  silver,  the  gold  price  of  copper  and  spe  tei,
and  the  exchange  between  silver  and  the  copper  coinage,
and  the  resultant  of  this  triangular  calculation  will  nevei
be  the  same  from  day  to  day  ;  but  taking  all  the  conditions
as  they  were  at  a  certain  time  in  1905,  I  found  that  foi  one
Mexican  dollar  I  received  at  Shanghai  880  ordinary  cas
in  common  circulation,  containing  an  ordinary  proportion

of  illicit  coins,  of  an  intrinsic  value  of  26  4  P ence  »

and

that  for  one  Mexican  dollar  at  Peking  I  received  actúa  y
405,  being  nominally  *  413  pieces  of  10-cash,  with  an  actúa
face  value  of  4,130  and  a  nominal  f  face  value  of  8,2  o

cash,  having  an  intrinsic  value  of  29  45  pence.

The  actual

value  in  each  case  is  somewhat,  but  proportionately,  sma  er,
since  I  took  as  the  basis  of  the  fourth  element  in  t  e
estimate—the  alloy  of  metal  in  the  coins—the  standar
proportion  of  60  parts  of  copper  to  40  of  spelter,  whi  e
the  proportion  of  copper  is  sometimes  as  low  as  55-We

  come  now  to  the  latest  issue  of  token  coinage,

the

cent.  This  was  issued  to  supply  a  real  deficiency  m

the

—^  ^  ^  Jr  IrJ  ^  c
circulating  medium,  due  to  extensive  melting  down  o
the  regular  coinage  and  the  impossibility  of  the  government
supplying  the  wastage,  both  occasioned  by  the  increasing
intrinsic  value  of  the  copper  contents.  This  coin  was  a
close  imitation  of  the  Hongkong  cent  (y  oli  a  silvei  dollar)
and  the  issues  from  the  Kwangtung  mint  are  inscribed
“  100  to  a  dollar,"  but  those  from  all  other  mints  are  inscribed ­
  “  represents  10  cash."  While  their  workmanship
differs,  their  intrinsic  value  is  fairly  uniform  ;  with  a
diameter  of  no  inch,  some  are  of  pure  copper  and  weigh
112  grains,  others  contain  95  percent,  of  copper  and  weigh
Ix 5  grains,  having  an  intrinsic  value  (on  the  date  in  I9®5
referred  to  above)  of  12  pence  for  100  coins  or  10  5  p ence
for  the  then  exchange  equivalent  of  one  dollar.  There
were  also  some  limited  issues  of  brass  “  cents  "  containing
o  per  cent,  of  copper  and  20  per  cent,  of  spelter.  At  first
the  cents  passed  for  their  full  face  value  of  10  cash  or  88
*  V.  infra,  page  130.

t  V.  infra,  page  132.