Abstract—It is unique to inform that in the small island of
Bali, located at central Archipelago Country of Indonesia, the
old Chinese coin have an important value as component of the
ritual and culture. Until the end of the XIX Century, the old
Chinese coin still have its function as a currency in Bali Island
and later the function as a currency is no longer applicable since
Rupiah currency now as legal currency in the Bali Island as a
part on Indonesia country. But its function for ritual and
culture are still remaining. Since the fabrication of old Chinese
coin was in China and also its production is not continued at the
recent day causes the Balinese peoples difficult to obtain it. An
effort to produce a local made Chinese coin is then promoted
but the result is not satisfaction because the appearance
especially the color is not mach with the original one due to
metal composition of old Chinese coin is not recognize. The old
Chinese coins that are found in Bali are recognized come from
several dynasties in China. For this purpose one by one of the
old Chinese coin which are depend of the dynasty that produce
the coin should be investigated. In this article, the old Chinese
coin from Northern Song Dynasty was investigated in order to
explore its metal composition so that possible for local peoples
to produce it in Bali as a local made. It is found that the metal
composition of the northern Song Dynasty of old Chinese coin
that was found in Bali island are made of copper (Cu) that reach
about 62.221wt.% followed by tin (Sn) about 22,98 wt.% and
lead (Pb) about 6.644 wt.%. Surprisingly that the coin just
contain about 0.238 wt.% zinc (Zn) that mean the coin is in
category as a bronze and not as a brass. Other trash element
that are found are iron (Fe) about 2.611 wt.%, vanadium (V)
about 0.062 wt.% and also titanium (Ti) about 0.424 wt. % as
supported by metallography analyses.
Index Terms—Chinese, coin, Bali, dynasty, song.
Tjokorda Udiana Nindhia Pemayun is with the Department of Fine Visual
Arts (Jurusan Seni Rupa Murni), Indonesia Arts Institute Denpasar, Jl. Nusa
Indah, Denpasar, Bali, 80235, Indonesia (e-mail: nindhia@yahoo.com).
Tjokorda Gde Tirta Nindhia is with the Industry Manufacture and
Machinery Research Group. Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Engineering Faculty, Udayana University, Jimbaran, Bali, 80361, Indonesia
(e-mail: tirta.nindhia@me.unud.ac.id).
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Cite:Tjokorda Udiana Nindhia Pemayun and Tjokorda Gde Tirta Nindhia, "On Investigation of Metals Composition in Old Chinese
Coin from the Northern Song Dynasty Found in Bali Island
Indonesia," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 40-43, 2014.