“Bai Hua” Straight Knife Money of State Zhao of Warring States Period (round pommel)

Weighing 7.5g, this knife-shaped coin has a loop pommel, a grip with two ridge lines and a blade with bulges along the outline. Casted in the Prefecture of Bai People of the State of Zhao during the Warring States period (475 or 403-221 BC), the present day Tangshan area of Hebei province in the vicinity of Beijing, such coins gained the name of “Bai Ren” meaning “Bai people”, or “Bai Hua” according to inscriptions on them believed to refer to “Bai currency”.