A CHINESE WORK ON NUMISMATICS. 499 



4000 taels in silver. To official and civilian alike the punishment for 

 conniving at (such an offence) shall also be the same. On the sur- 

 rounding border two dragons appear on either side, with a jewel on 

 the upper border and water on the lower. A square seal which reads 

 "Great T'ang Issuance" appears above, and below is another square 

 seal reading "Hsien-t'ung Circulating Treasure-Note". The latter 

 seal is repeated on the back of each note. 



Plate IS. Hsien-t'ung (860-873 A.D.) Note. 

 Translation of the inscriptions. 



First line: "Great T'ang General Circulation Treasure-Note." 



Second line: " Teti Kwan." 



Illustration: (Pictorial representation of one yiian-pao). 



Lower panel: " The Cabinet, having petitioned the Imperial decree, 

 prints ayid issues the Great T'ang Circulating Treasure-Note to be u^ed 

 side by side tcith silver coin. {He who) first privately makes a facsimile 

 shall be decapitated sunimarily iipon learning of (such guilt) ; (he who) 

 first informs in the matter shall be rewarded ivith WOO taels in silver. 

 To official and civilian alike the punishment for conniving at {such an 

 offence) shall also be the same. 



Hsien-t'ung, .... year, .... month, .... day." 



Pl.\te 19. 



The inscription is the same as that on the 10 kwan note with the 

 exception of the denomination, which is 100 kwan, and the reward to 

 the informant which is 4000 taels. The illustration represents 10 

 yuan pao. 



Plate 20. Upper Seal on the Hsien-t'ung Notes. 



Four characters arranged as follows: 



Distributing Great 



Issuing T'ang 



Translation: '^Issuance of the Great T'ang Dynasty." 



