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A Record-Breaking Price to the Gold Coin from Song Empire

In a recent auction of Chinese artefacts, a rare gold coin from the time of the Song Dynasty during the rule of Emperor Zhao Jiong (976-997) reached the record price of 720,000 USD

Here is a brief history about Chinese coins, and especially ones with holes cut in them:

Coins with holes in the middle were very practical as this made it possible to slide multiple coins onto a string. This practice was common until the 20th century with cowry shells. The round metal coins were introduced as a payment method by Emperor Tai Gong in the 11th century BC.

The Chinese coins had a square hole in the middle to symbolize earth, whereas the round shape of the coin symbolized heaven. In East-Asian culture, depictions of dragons represented power, strength and luck.
The coin is also representative of the harmony between space, energy and time. They were originally called Quan, translated as “origin” or “perfection”. Therefore at the time, coins were considered a symbol of the attainment of 10 levels of perfection