WARRING STATES: State of Chu, 350-250 BC, AE spade money (35.69g), H-3.470, 37x104mm, large flat-handle square-foot spade type, pei bi dang jin on obverse, shi huo on reverse in archaic script, typical casting quality for this type, Fine. The State of Chu was an ancient Chinese state in the Yangtze Valley during the Zhou Dynasty. Originally Chu was considered a viscountcy, but starting from King Wu in the early 8th century BC, the rulers of Chu declared themselves kings on an equal footing with the Zhou rulers. Originally known as Jing and then as Jingchu, Chu occupied vast areas of land at its height, including most of the present-day provinces of Hubei and Hunan, along with parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. The "huo" in the reverse inscription "shi huo" probably refers to ten ant nose type coins. These spades are thick and robust with well-developed rims all the way around, usually crudely cast with a large round hole in the top.
