Two Dealers of Ancient Coins

By Liu Liangcheng

In an alley beside Shayibake Street, a young imam, Luz, runs his unusual business, the trade of ancient coins.When you enter his house through an inconspicuous wooden door, you find yourself in a maze consisting of tiny rooms.Then you will see all the coins—those of different periods over the last 2,000 years from Kuqa.He has coppers from the Han Dynasty from central China, and some gold and silver coins from various countries and dynasties left by merchants who traveled along the ancient Silk Road.Luz is a dealer rather than a collector, but he has stored the “less marketable” goods at home.As time has gone by, the contents of the young imam's boxes and cabinets have become more extensive than that of any common collector, in terms of both quantity and variety.

As Luz seldom leaves Kuqa, he has no idea what the price of a Qiuci copper is in the market of Guangzhou or Beijing.He just knows that he bought the coins with not so much money, and would be happy enough to accept a “reasonable” offer.His major customer is Miss Xiaolan who lives in the new district of the town.She has been a businesswoman dealing in ancient coins for more than ten years, and knows well about the “outside” market.Xiaolan doesn't ask Luz his purchasing price of coins； she only lets the imam name a price, and then accepts it if she thinks the deal could be profitable.

沙依巴克街一条小巷子里，年轻阿訇卢兹做着古币生意。从一扇不起眼的小木门进去，里面是一间套一间迷宫般的小房子。在卢兹家里，可以看到库车两千多年来各时期的钱币、自汉代以来中原各朝代的铜币，以及从古丝绸之路上过往商人留下的许多国家和王朝的金币银币。卢兹不做收藏，只是倒卖。暂时卖不掉的留在家里，日积月累，他留下的古币已经成箱成柜，不计其数。

卢兹阿訇很少离开库车，不大知道一枚龟兹铜钱在广州、北京的币市是什么价。他廉价收来，能赚一个自己满意的数目就出手，主要的买主是新城里的小兰姑娘。小兰做了十几年古币生意，知道外面行情。她很少打听卢兹多少钱从别人手里收来这些东西，常常是卢兹说一个价，小兰觉得有赚头便成交。

卢兹早先做旧地毯生意，是小兰把他引入古币这一行当的，时间大概是九十年代初。卢兹在乡下收购旧地毯，顺便捡了半袋子铜钱，回来后也没当回事，见锈迹斑斑的，便倒在石灰盆中浸泡。这事不知怎么让小兰打问到了，以五毛钱一枚的价格全部买了去。

聪明的卢兹阿訇不久便打问清楚了，小兰从他手中买走的铜钱是新疆铸的“建中大历”，全国仅发现两枚，每枚市价五千到一万元。小兰一下购得三百枚，成了钱币界一件大事。这批古钱富了小兰，也使卢兹阿訇从此改行，专营起钱币生意。他的生活也从那时起一年年好转起来，一开始骑毛驴、坐驴车下去找钱，后来改骑摩托车。房子也由早先的一间，扩大到现在的许多间。他和小兰成了库车钱币行的一对好搭档。

卢兹汉语说得不好，只会几句简单的，无法到外地做钱币生意。小兰也只懂几句简单的维语，很少亲自到下面的村子里收购钱币。他们自然而然地做起联手生意：一个跑乡下，一个守城里。库车远远近近的村子以及和田、阿克苏、喀什的大小村镇，经常能看见卢兹和他那辆红色摩托车的影子。那些大户人家的宅院、没落贵族后裔的破房子、废品收购站以及铜匠铺中都有可能出现好东西。卢兹见什么收什么，只要是他认为的好东西：古钱、旧铜器、金银元宝、首饰、羊皮书……统统弄回家。小兰坐守城中，从卢兹弄回的大堆破烂中找寻自己需要的东西。有些古币卢兹不认识，很便宜就让小兰买走。好在卢兹聪明好学，吃一次亏就长一次见识。他除了向同行请教，还专门学习汉字，翻阅钱币书籍，渐渐地懂得了一些钱币知识和价值。他和小兰的关系逐渐变成两个钱币内行的交易。

Luz was in the business of second-hand carpets before Xiaolan introduced him to the trade of ancient coins in the early 1990s.Luz once found half a bag of coppers when he went to the countryside to buy old carpets.He didn't take it seriously, and only soaked the coins in a basin full of lime water in order to get rid of the rust.When Xiaolan somehow heard of this, she visited Luz and bought the coins at a price of 0.5 yuan each.

Our young imam is a smart guy, though.He soon figured out that the coppers Xiaolan bought from him were “Jianzhong Dali” minted in Xinjiang, and that before his lucky discovery, only two pieces of such coins were known in the whole nation, the market price of each being 5,000 to 10,000 yuan.Xiaolan's purchase of 300 Jianzhong Dali coins became a huge event among the coin collectors, and instantly made her rich.

Luz changed his business scope to become a specialized merchant of ancient coins.His living standard has improved gradually since then, as a motorcycle has replaced his donkey cart, and his single room has multiplied into a maze of rooms.The imam and Xiaolan became good partners in the coin business in Kuqa.

Luz can speak only a few simple sentences of Mandarin Chinese, therefore he is not able to do coin business outside his home area.On the other hand, Xiaolan knows very few Uighur words, and cannot purchase coins directly from the villagers herself.Naturally they started a joint business: one went around the countryside, while the other took care of things in the city.From then on, in the large and small villages near Kuqa, Hotan, Aksu, and Kashgar, you could often see Luz on his red motorcycle.The backyards of large families, the deserted houses where aristocrats lived, the recycling stations, and the copper-smith's shops: they could all be the sites of hidden treasure, and Luz visits them to buy whatever he thinks may be good.Then he takes all of what he buys back to the city—ancient coins, old copper wares, gold and silver ingots, jewelry, parchments—and lets Xiaolan pick what she needs.Sometimes the imam sells coins he doesn't recognize to his partner at a very low price, but fortunately, he is such a quick learner who not only asks his peers for advice, but also learns the Chinese characters and reads reference books.Now the young Uighur has sufficient knowledge about coins, and the trade between he and Xiaolan has become an expert-to-expert one.

两个古币商多少年来就这样倒腾着这片古老土地上的钱币，汉、魏、晋时期的和田马钱，龟兹“汉龟二体钱”（钱币上铸有汉文、龟兹文两种文字），察合台汗国钱，十七世纪后期的准噶尔“普尔钱”，以及贵霜、波斯、拜占庭等古老王朝的钱币，都在他们手中汇聚，然后“流通”到各地。

一枚库车出土的古钱一般经过这样几个环节到达广州、北京的币市：先是一个农民翻地时，一坎土曼（新疆锄地、挖土的农具）刨出来，有时一枚，有时数枚或一堆。接着是听到消息的卢兹阿訇连夜骑摩托车去找挖到古币的人。往往去晚了，钱币已经到另一个钱贩子手里；也可能一夜之间转了三次手，从一个村庄倒卖到另一个村庄，价钱翻了几个跟头，卢兹只好多花钱买回来。不管多贵买来，卢兹都会加上一个自己满意的数字再卖给小兰。

小兰一般每星期去一趟卢兹家，卢兹有了新货也会及时打电话给她。小兰看过钱币的种类、品相，马上打电话给在广州做事的丈夫，丈夫报给她那边的价位。小兰一般不跟卢兹讨价还价，他们合作十几年，早熟悉对方的脾气，她觉得价格合适，立马成交。顶多五天后，这些古币便通过邮政快件到达广州币市。

这个过程中赚得最少的是挖到古币的人，虽然他只投入了一点儿力气，还是意外之财，但这一坎土曼刨出来的，或许是他一生唯一的一次好运气。若卖到几千块钱，就足以改变一家人的生活。他仅卖了几十块钱，够买一只羊腿，只改善了一家人一天的生活。不过，这已经让他非常满意了。

赚得最多的要算最终拥有这些钱币的人。一枚古钱经过无数人的手，价格肯定高得不能再高。他买回来，往上标一个更高的价，摆在自己的珍藏柜里。他加的这部分，或许已经超过所有经手者赚的钱数总和。这样的钱，不是孤品也是世存无几，定多高的价都由拥有者说了算。最好的绝品最后都是有价无市，不管有没有人要，能否卖出去，拥有者都会把他增加的那部分算进自己的利润财产中。这是真正懂古钱的人，要的只是一个有无限扩张可能的钱数，而不是可以拿在手中的一沓纸币。这时，一枚古钱又跟它未出土时一样，深埋在一个人手里。（摘自《半路上的库车》漓江出版社）

Thus the two dealers have been buying and selling the coins of ancient lands for years.They gather Hotan horse coins from the Han, Wei, and Jin dynasties, the “Han-Qiuci coins” (both Chinese and Qiuci words are inscribed on the coins), Chagatai Khanate's coins, Junggar's “Pu'er Coins” minted in the late 17th century, and coins from other ancient states such as Guishuang, Persia, and Byzantium.Then they let these coins “circulate” to various places.

This is the typical route of the circulating coins: from Kuqa to the market of Guangzhou or Beijing: a peasant digs them up with a Kantuman shovel, sometimes one or a few pieces, and sometimes many.Then our imam Luz who hears about it will ride his motorcycle all night to find the peasant, and hopefully buys them before another dealer comes.Actually, Luz is often late—the coins could have been in the hands of his competitor, and even been sold and resold three times in a night, from one village to another, at higher and higher prices.So the imam has to spend much more money to buy them.However expensive the coins may become, Luz will add an additional price (which is his “satisfactory” profit) when he sells them to Xiaolan.

Then the coins are in the hands of Xiaolan.She usually goes to Luz's house once a week, or when Luz calls her.After checking the categories and conditions of the coins, Xiaolan will call her husband who works in Guangzhou to get the market price there.Xiaolan rarely bargains with Luz, as they have cooperated for more than ten years and know each other well.If she thinks the price Luz asks for is reasonable, they will make the deal.At most five days later, these ancient coins will arrive at the market in Guangzhou in an express parcel.

The person who earns the least in the process is the peasant who digs the coins up.The unexpected fortune his Kantuman shovel brings him might be a once in a lifetime thing for him.If he sells the coins for a few thousand yuan, the money would be enough to change the life of his family.But he sells them for only a few dozen yuan, which is enough for buying a lamb leg.In this way, he could improve his family's living standard for just one day, but it may seem quite satisfactory to him already.

The person who earns the most is the one who owns the coins ultimately.After all the buying and selling, the price of the ancient coins finally reaches its peak.He buys them, gives them an even higher price, and then puts them in his collection showcase.The new price may be double the total amount of the profits earned by all those sellers； but as these coins must be very rare, or even unique, it is all up to the owner to decide the price.In the end, the best coins will not enter the market again, but the owner will still do the calculations, and include the coins' added value in his possessions.This is the person who really understands ancient coins: he wants the infinite possibility of value instead of a certain sum of money.Now an ancient coin is buried deep in a man's hand, just as it was before the excavation.(FromKuqa on the Way, Lijiang Publishing House.Translation: Wang Xiaoke.)