Others present, seeing Chu Chen's surprised expression, kept looking at the silver coin, and finally took out a magnifying glass to look at it carefully. They couldn't help but be curious. Is this silver coin very precious? When Chu Chen finally confirmed the authenticity of the silver coin and put down the magnifying glass in his hand, Zhao Heyan quickly asked: "Cousin, why have you looked at this silver coin for so long? Is it rare?" Chu Chen smiled He replied: "Of course it is rare. This kind of silver coin is also called "Ben Province" silver coin. It is different from ordinary Jingchu and Guangxu silver coins. The word "Ben Province" is cast on both sides of the dragon picture on the back of this type of silver coin. This is the only one in the history of our country's coinage. This is an example. " "And after it was released, the people did not accept it because of the difficulty in circulation. As a result, it had to be quickly withdrawn from circulation and destroyed and recast. Basically, only a few of them have survived to this day. " " That's it! After listening to Chu Chen's explanation, he took the silver coin in his hand, looked at it for a while, then looked at the other silver coins next to him, and said, "Aren't these silver coins just silver coins? They are all about the same weight, so why is it difficult to circulate?" Chu Chen Chen chuckled and said: "You don't understand the special situation at that time. If you have time, I will tell you what happened." The exchange rate between copper coins and silver was unstable and rapidly developed towards the trend of "money is more expensive than silver". From the 20th to the 22nd year of Guangxu's reign, in just two years, one dollar of silver dropped from 1,200 convertible coins to 840 coins. This situation has caused confusion and uneasiness in the circulation field. Therefore, under the auspices of Zhang Zhidong, the then governor of Huguang, the Jingchu Mint minted this special silver coin with the word "this province" on the back to stabilize the price of money and silver in Jingchu. At that time, it was mandated in the form of an administrative order that the newly minted "provincial" silver coin was worth one thousand yuan, and all local official revenue and expenditures must use this silver coin. Various taxes payable by merchants must also be exchanged into "provincial" silver dollars at an official special agency at an exchange rate of one thousand to one, and then the taxes are paid. This administrative measure. The main purpose is to promote the stability of private price comparisons through the unified pricing of silver dollars and coins set by the government. However, due to the ups and downs in the price ratio of silver and money at that time, it was not only the inherent flaw of the standard currency system of silver and money, but also the national and even global changes in the supply and demand of silver and copper raw materials. In this situation, compulsory administrative intervention in one region and one region will definitely not be effective. so. The implementation of this decree encountered strong resistance from the public. People used various reasons not to exchange the "provincial" silver coins that were overpriced by 20%. As a result, this local regulation was shelved soon after its implementation. Speaking of this, Chu Chen said: "So under the circumstances at that time, this kind of silver coins did not reach the hands of ordinary people. They were recycled and melted in large quantities. Even if they are still in the world, most of them are worn or stamped. , except for the current one, I have never seen any others, and I have never heard of them anywhere." "Cousin, that means this silver coin is an orphan?" "Then? Not necessarily. After all, this kind of silver coin was also issued. There may be silver coins of this quality in other corners, but the number should be very few. " At this point, Chu Chen turned to Old Mrs. Wen and said, "Grandma Wen. "Were your family from Jingchu before?" Old Mrs. Wen was also a little stunned at this time. She didn't understand why silver coins were valuable or not. Apart from the different patterns on the top, aren't everything else the same? The difference is only a few dozen yuan at most. Can a silver dollar be sold for tens of thousands? Hearing Chu Chen ask her, she came back to her senses and replied: "Yes, my mother's family used to belong to Jingchu, and these silver coins were all the money I brought as a dowry to keep the bottom of the box. Young man, let me ask you, can this silver coin How much is it worth? " "This" If it were someone else, Chu Chen might be able to earn a little more with peace of mind, but faced with this weathered face. If he had set a price like he usually did in the antique business, his conscience would not be able to bear it, but if he told the real price, I wonder if the old man could endure this trick of fate. "Grandma Wen, this I tell you not to" Before Chu Chen could finish speaking, his cell phone rang. When he saw it was his uncle's number, he quickly picked it up and said a few words. After hanging up the phone, she said to Zhao Heyan: "Xiaoyan, go pick up your father. He is right at the intersection where you just came in." When Zhao Heyan went out, Mrs. Wen said: "Young man, you I'm afraid I won't be able to bear it. Don't worry, I won't fall down for my granddaughter's sake. Just tell me." Hearing what Mrs. Wen said, Chu Chen was still a little worried, but thinking about it, they would have to do it sooner or later. AllFaced with it, he said: "Because this kind of silver coin has never been traded, I can only draw on the rareness of this coin and draw on previous auction records of rare coins to come up with a relatively average price. "It should be around 800,000." When Old Mrs. Wen heard the price of 800,000, she just felt her head pounding and she stood blankly motionless. Seeing this, Chu Chen quickly helped Mrs. Wen sit on the stool, rubbed her back, shouted, and finally pinched Renzhong. Although Wen Xuelan was a little confused when she heard the price, she was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and she was still a little confused about some things. In this case, her ability to bear it was undoubtedly better than that of her grandmother. Seeing this, she didn't care. Sad, he hurriedly stepped forward and called out to Mrs. Wen. After three to five minutes of this, Old Mrs. Wen said "Wow" and started crying, complaining about herself and the unfairness of her fate. When Zhao Qirui and the others walked in, they were a little confused when they saw this scene. They were not buying antiques. Why did they look like this? Seeing this, Chu Chen walked up to them, explained the reason with a wry smile, and then sighed and said: "Hey, I almost did something bad with good intentions. If something happened to the old man just now, I will feel guilty for the rest of my life. " Zhao Qirui patted him on the shoulder and said: "You didn't do this on purpose, and he's fine now, so don't feel guilty. If you encounter something like this in the future, think more about it so that people can be mentally prepared. Tell her that the situation may be better. " Chu Chen shook his head. He was still too young and was a bit rough in handling things. He would have to learn from this lesson in the future. To do good things, it is not enough to just have a good intention. You must also have the appropriate method and timing, and fully consider the actual situation and tolerance of others. Otherwise, it will be too late to regret if you really do bad things with good intentions. Seeing Wen Xuelan constantly comforting Mrs. Wen, Zhao Qirui pulled Chu Chen to the yard and asked excitedly: "Where is that "provincial" silver coin? Come and see it, I haven't seen the brand new one yet. "It's over." Zhao Qirui took the silver coin handed over by Chu Chen and quickly observed it carefully. After a long time, he breathed a sigh of relief and praised: "It is indeed an authentic product. This kind of coin has no stamps or wear, even if it is not an orphan. Hearing this, Zhao Heyan asked strangely: "Is there any counterfeiting of these silver coins?" Chu Chen laughed and said: "How can there be no counterfeiters? As long as they can make money, there will always be some criminals. Wrong thinking. Let¡¯s not talk about now, let¡¯s say that in the 1940s, Shanghai Qian Shang Ping Yulin had three versions of this one-yuan coin counterfeited. ¡°Of these three versions, the first two were too clumsy. But for the third edition, he colluded with the mint staff to use professional machinery and waste molds of Hubei Guangxu one-yuan ordinary coins to add characters to a very high degree, and it was almost fake. " "But. Although this kind of silver coin looks similar, there are still flaws to be found. The word "province" on the back of the fake coin is slightly different from the "province" on the face of the coin, while the two "province" characters on the front and back of the genuine coin are in perfect harmony. As I said, there is only one authentic silver coin from "this province" and there is no second version. The authenticity is self-evident. " Finally, Zhao Qirui added: "Also, I have never seen it without a stamp before. are authentic, and those fakes are unmarked, so the presence or absence of a mark became a reference for identifying forgeries at that time. However, let alone at that time, even now, if you encounter an unmarked provincial silver coin, you must be cautious. "Oh, that's it. I didn't expect there to be so many fakes for one kind of silver coin. Dad, you asked me to learn antiques. Don't even think about it! I don't want to squat in a pile of fakes all day long." He Yan said with a pout. "You girl" Zhao Qirui wanted to say something else, but thinking about his naughty daughter, except for her mother, he really couldn't control her, so he could only say helplessly: "Forget it, you can do whatever you want. How about it? With your restless personality, you can¡¯t even hope to learn antiques well.¡± Zhao Heyan chuckled and said, ¡°You two know antiques anyway, can¡¯t I just go to you to buy antiques?¡± One is my dad and the other is my cousin, you won¡¯t refuse, right?¡± Seeing her say this, Chu Chen and Zhao Qirui could only say nothing but helpless smiles at each other. Chu Chen and the others waited for a while. Seeing that Mrs. Wen's mood had stabilized, they walked in together. Mrs. Wen wiped away her tears and said apologetically: "I'm sorry for wasting your time." Chu Chen and the others quickly said it didn't matter, and then Chu Chen said: "Grandma Wen, let's sign the agreement, but I don't know the money. You??How do I pay? I wonder if I can write a check? " "Cheque? " "Yes, after all, the total amount of money is more than one million. The bank is not open today, so it is inconvenient not to use a check. Of course, you can also choose to trade tomorrow. "Although Chu Chen wants to get things as soon as possible, he can't force others to trade.