Cowrie shells were an important object of exchange in West Africa. They were largely sourced from the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and brought to West Africa by the trans-Saharan trade as well as European merchants. Cowries were regularly used in low value transactions, but could also be assembled in great quantities - in the tens and hundreds of thousands - for major transactions. They circulated alongside other forms of money, such as coins, and were a central currency of the transatlantic slave trade.
Obverse Image: "Great Ming Treasure Note" at top, denomination below and then depicted as ten strings of 100 cash (i.e. 1000 cash or 1 kuan), "Great Ming Treasure Note" in seal characters, a statement by the Board of Revenue regarding their imperial sanction to print paper notes and threatening any would-be counterfeiters with death and loss of property.
Obverse Text: [NEEDS TRANSLATION]
Reverse Image: N/A
Reverse Text: N/A
General Information: Made of heavy fibers from mulberry bark; Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Hung Wu era (1368-99); see Ward Smith's Chinese Banknotes; p. 177 T36-20
