China - Qi Knife Money from Shandong

T.P. Collection. David Hartill describes this series of Type 1 knife as being attributed to the State of Qi in the Shandong province region. Archaeological information indicates that the Qi knives are from the Warring States period (400 - 220 B.C.). This example appears to have 5 or 6 characters. OB: An Yang Zhi Fa Hua (An Yang's Legal Money); the reverse can be found with 11 different characters, here the reverse (type 'j') is the character 'gong.' The width here is 2.5 cm x 18 cm. Hartill # 4.1 j