Lot 6540

AR drum type sycee, Jiangsu, the Bund Customs, 10 Taels (386 g.; 53-60 x 27 mm.) (ZENO 363491 / 29394). Inscriptions: Jiang Tan Guan (The Bund Customs). Very rare, 2nd reported specimen - VF, According to official records, no inland or maritime customs in China were named “Jiang Tan Guan” (The Bund Customs). The whereabout of this customs, as well as the origin of this drum piece, seems therefore a bit of a mystery. However as the British counselor in Shanghai demanded that a new customs in Shanghai should be moved close to the British settlement and the estury of the river, which new locatotian became well-known to westerners as the Bund it may refer to this The new location of the customs. As is It is highly possible that, after the customs was moved to the new building in the Bund, Shanghai residents gave the new customs an informal name “The Bund Customs”.