Page "Coin" Paragraph 11

Another possible candidate for first metal coins come from China.

The earliest known Chinese metal tokens were made ca.

900 BC, discovered in a tomb near Anyang.

These were replicas in bronze of earlier Chinese money, cowry shells, so they were named Bronze Shell.

Some numismatists, however, regard these as well as later Chinese bronzes that were replicas of knives, spades, and hoes as money but not as coins because they did not at least initially carry a mark or marks certifying them to be of a definite exchange value.