楚国爰金。战国时代。郢爰。 重8.8克。History of Chinese Currency第7页有记载，编号#1。刻有"郢爰"，製于今湖北省。轻微积土痕迹，原始状态。精美诱人，定会为藏集增光溢彩。製作时，先作有铭文的金钣，再根据需要将其切成零星小块。据推测，此为从一块较大金钣分割出来的合二为一的小金块。此为中国货币史上首款形制确定的金质货币。
CHINA. State of Chu. "Yuan Jin" Gold Cube Money, ND (ca. 475-221 B.C.). Warring States Period. Graded "70" by Huaxia Coin Grading. 8.8 gms. History of Chinese Currency-pg. 7, #1; cf.Hartill-5.1. A partial cube inscribed with "Ying Yang", made in what is now Hubei Province. Minor earthen deposits in the crevasses lend to its originality. An attractive fragment sure to add depth to the next collection it enters. This example was cut from larger bars which allowed for the making of small denominations, in this case, fractions of cubes were separated from a larger set. Hartill conjectures that these stamped shapes were not meant to be specific weight units, but rather to validate the larger gold block. Historically this is China s first gold currency with a fixed shape and size.
