Horse’s Hoof-shaped Silver Coins from China

These silver ingots in the shape of a horse’s hoof served as an adjunct currency for high-value transactions in China.

Horse hoof ingots began to flow into Korea (Joseon at that time) in 1894 whe Yuan Shikai (1860-1916), a powerful military official of the Qing dynasty, visited the Joseon court as an envoy or for military purposes, and flooded in in even greater quantities to fund the First Sino-Japanese War.

The currency was circulated in the residential areas of Chinese merchants and the area around Korea’s northwestern borders.

It was also used as a means to hoard wealth and as a material for the Daedong Eunjeon (silver coin). ...