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Nanking Cargo China "sycee" gold ingot 53, 369 grams, 21K fine ex-Christie's (1986)

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Shipwreck Ingots Start Price:26,000.00 USD Estimated At:30,000.00 - 60,000.00 USD
Nanking Cargo China sycee gold ingot 53, 369 grams, 21K fine ex-Christie's (1986)
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This item SOLD at 2023 May 03 @ 11:04UTC-4 : AST/EDT
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Chinese rectangular "sycee" gold ingot number 53, 369 grams, 21K fine, marked with Chinese characters "yuan ji bao" ("gold ingot") on top along with "yuan" on bottom, ex-"Nanking Cargo" (1752), ex-Christie's (1986). About 3-1/8" x 1" x 1/2". Perhaps the most elusive of all shipwreck ingots despite the Christie's offering of over 126 of them on this wreck (among 147 listed on the original manifest of the Geldermalsen), the Chinese shoe-shaped "sycees" in gold are extremely rare, their existence nearly wiped out by meltage over the years, somewhat ironic since their original composition is melted-down foreign gold coins from their time, as the Chinese always preferred copper for daily exchange and used the gold only for large gifts or overseas payments, hence the need to store the gold in a compact and uniform state. Curiously, Christie's notes that the gold ingots from this wreck were not in the main cargo but a bit separated from it yet found all together, as if they were in the possession of a single passenger trying to get away! Like almost all the others, our bar bears on its lustrous top surface a central "double-gourd"-shaped cartouche with the Chinese letters "yuan ji" plus two peripheral square cartouches (one at each end) containing the Chinese letter "bao," one covered with white encrustation, the sides of the ingot narrowly sloping upward with brownish encrustation embedded, and the bottom with two lightly stamped Chinese characters "yuan" (one at each end), overall in superb (undamaged) condition and a lovely little display with great original auction packaging. From the "Nanking Cargo" (1752), with sticker #53, housed in a Christie's "Nanking Cargo" wooden box also marked with #53, with photo-certificate, pedigreed to the original Christie's (Amsterdam) auction of April-May 1986 (pp. 70-76), a hardbound copy of the catalog for which also accompanies this lot (with list of prices realized).

第62号拍品 - 一块中国长方形“元宝”金锭，编号为53，重369克，成色21K，顶部刻有汉字“元记宝”，底部刻有“元”字，曾出自“南京货”（1752年）和佳士得（1986年）。

尺寸约为3-1/8英寸 x 1英寸 x 1/2英寸。尽管佳士得曾在此次沉船遗产拍卖会上拍卖了126多个此类金锭（共有147个在“赫尔德马尔森号”船清单上列出），但这些中国鞋形“元宝”金锭仍然是最为难得的，它们的存在几乎被熔化消失，这在某种程度上具有讽刺意味，因为它们最初的成分是从外国金币熔化而来，而中国人在日常交换中总是更喜欢使用铜币，只有在送大礼或进行海外支付时才使用金子，因此需要将金子储存成紧凑而统一的形态。

耐人寻味的是，佳士得指出这些沉船遗失的金锭并非在主货物中，而是与主货物稍有分离，但却被一起发现，好像它们曾被一个试图逃离的单个乘客所拥有！和几乎所有其他金锭一样，我们的金条在其光亮的顶部表面上镌刻有一个中央的“双葫芦”形状的饰板，上面有汉字“元记”，两端各有一个包含汉字“宝”的外围方形饰板（一个被白色结垢覆盖），金锭的侧面略向上倾斜，嵌有褐色结垢，底部有两个轻微刻有汉字“元”的印记（每个端口一个），整体处于极佳（未受损）的状态，是一件漂亮的小展品，带有很好的原始拍卖包装。此块金锭出自“南京货”（1752年），标签编号为#53，存放在一个佳士得“南京货”木盒子中，上面也标有编号#53，附有照片证书，并可追溯到1986年4月至5月佳士得（阿姆斯特丹）的原始拍卖会（第70-76页），同时附带有该批次的目录的精装副本（含有价格实现清单）。
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