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Chinese Sycee Ingots??? Long post


Thought I would bring this up and see if any of you have ever heard of these items. The Father of a friend of mine has a set of these and doesn't know a real lot about them. I will attempt to get some pictures for all of you to peruse. The owner (the father) did a write up of sorts for me to post to all of you:



Due to the rarity of these “sycee” bullion ingots, it has been difficult to attain an accurate appraisal. This set of three ingots has been authenticated by Rose Chan Houston when she was the Associate Curator of Far Eastern Coins of the American Numismatic Society and Ms. Becky MacGuire of Antiques Roadshow in Tampa, Florida (June 1999). These ingots were featured on the Antiques Roadshow program (PBS) on February 14, 2000 (I have a videotape of the show).

As far as I can determine, the only comparable Chinese gold ingots sold publicly were auctioned in April 1986 by Christie’s Amsterdam in their sale, The Nanking Cargo: Chinese Export Porcelain and Gold (“Nanking Sale”). The items in this auction were artifacts from a Dutch East India vessel, the Geldermalsen, which was wrecked in the South China Sea in 1752 and recovered by Captain Hatcher in 1985. Found nearby the more than 100,000 pieces of blue and white porcelain were 125 Chinese gold ingots in the shoe and rectangular shape. I have copies of auction materials as well as results from the auction relating to the Nanking Sale. This particular set of ingots is very unique because it contains a third style of ingot not offered at the Nanking Sale: a flattened rectangular bar.

According to the Christie’s appraiser, this gold was probably mined in South America, traveled by ship to China where it was smelted in small family refineries and was used in trading with Western European nations who were importing tea, silks and porcelain. The marks on the front (top) of the rectangular ingot in this set are almost an identical match to Lot 1819 of the Nanking Sale in the Christie’s catalog. Christie’s states that the mark (pictured on the left side of the bar) is “stamped with a double gourd containing the characters ‘yuan ji’ within two single seal characters ‘bao’ (treasure)….” The phrase ‘yuan ji bao’ can be translated as “gold ingot”. Other marks on the ingots probably indicate the name of the family or area where the gold was cast and could include some good luck symbols or the weight and content of the gold. The individual molds give the gold a distinctive pattern, a rough and unfinished “porous” appearance due to casting in a mud pit.

These ingots derive from a shipwreck in 1746 off the coast of Brittany, France. The ship was named the Prince de Conty and was owned by the French East India Companies. I have an article, “The Gold of the Prince de Conty”, in French, with an English translation and an extensive book recently published in France about the French East India Companies. This “coffee table” book is in French and includes historical information as well as photographs and maps. The British Museum (the “Museum”) owns a complete set of ingots from the Prince de Conty and paid quite handsomely for this set: £25,000 (approximately $42,150 at the currency exchange rate at that time) for one shoe, £7,500 (approximately $12,845) for one rectangular bar (yuan) and £10,000 (approximately $16,680) for one flat bar (ying). Mr. Cribb, the curator for the Money Museum wing of the Museum, bought these for the Museum’s collection. It should be noted that this particular set of ingots is in much better condition and possesses very clear markings compared to other ingots in the public domain. In addition, this set evidences minimal, if any, sand adhesion or marine encrustation.

Most antique gold ingots of Chinese origin now reside in the People’s Republic of China or were melted down. Other than the Nanking Sale and some available in a few Western museums, very few similar ingots have made it into public circulation.

The rectangular bar style, the “yuan”, is the most common form of Chinese “sycee”, at least from what has been discovered to date. The Nanking Sale listed 107 of these ingots in individual lots (lots numbered 1819-1926). All the lots sold with the highest price paid and the lowest price paid for a rectangular bar the equivalent of $25,868 and $9,321, respectively. The average price paid was $11,268. These prices have been converted from Dutch Guilders to Dollars in accordance with the applicable currency exchange rate at the time of the Nanking Sale.

The “shoe” shaped ingot was listed in 18 separate lots sold (lots numbered 1801-1819) in the Nanking Sale. This form of ingot is the most highly sought after due to its unique shape, perceived rarity and symbolic representation. This particular shape was long considered a symbol of wealth. The highest price paid and the lowest price paid for a “shoe” was the equivalent of $87,951 and $33,628, respectively. The average price paid was $41,670. Prices have been converted from Dutch Guilders to dollars in accordance with the applicable currency exchange rate at the time of the Nanking Sale.

The flattened “candy bar” style is called “ying”. Unfortunately, no ingots of this shape were sold at the Nanking Sale. The “ying” is the heaviest of the three ingots comprising the set.

Publicity, as well as, higher gold prices (approximately $450 per ounce) affected values at the time of the Nanking Sale. The rarity of these ingots, however, affected the prices more than the gold value since these ingots sold between 2 to 6 times the intrinsic value of the gold content.

The attached pictures are of the actual “sycee”. Please note that these ingots are being sold as bar bullion: they are not coined metal. Measurements are not to be taken as necessarily absolutely exact. Assay tests have not been conducted on this set, however, assay tests were carried out on three ingots offered in the Nanking Sale as samples. One gold shoe (lot 1814) indicated a fineness of 919 parts per 1000. The other shoe tested (lot 1809) indicated a fineness of 850. A rectangular bar (lot 1819) yielded a result of 868 fineness

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