622 



DAVIS. 



Plate 141. Lower Seal on the Minor Hung-wu Notes. 



Four characters arranged as follows: 



Treasure Hung- 



note wu 



Translation: "Treasure-Note of the Hung-icu Era." 



PLATE 140. 



PLATE 141. 



Dimensions 



1X1 INCHES 



Dimensions 

 li X ^z inches 



Notes of Ch'eng-tsu (1403-1424 A.D.) of the Ming Dynasty. 



Ch'eng-tsu ascended the throne in 1403 and died in 1424. History 

 does not record the issuance of notes during his reign, which was 

 known as the Yung-le Era. However, I possess twenty varieties of 

 notes bearing that name. Herewith are printed the minimum, 

 middle and maximum notes. This issue included notes of 1, 2, 3, 4, 

 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 19 kwan, each of which bears a 

 corresponding number of cash. In addition there were issued notes 

 of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 kwan, each of which bears a 

 pictorial representation oLa certain number of cash, each cash repre- 

 senting 5 kwan. Each note has a border decoration of clouds and 

 dragons of varied kinds. The color of the paper is gray. All these 

 notes are major notes. 



