- Hey, how's it going?
How are you doing?
So what do you have here?
This is the earliest documented paper
money from the Ming Dynasty, China, 1368 to 1399.
It's called the 1 kuan note, which is basically 1,000 cash.
There are two notes in there.
That's why you're seeing two different shades.
OK.
I mean, it's pretty cool, dude.
Governments have always tried paper money.
The problem is with paper money, there's
this massive temptation to keep on printing
more and more and more.
Then you start getting inflation.
And the next thing you know, what used to cost $1
costs $100.
It's the inevitable keep on printing
until you destroy yourself.
[laughs]
I got these notes from a seller
whose brother passed away.
I really appreciate Chinese currency.
It's one of my favorites to collect I would like to get,
for the better condition, probably
around $12,500, and the lesser-conditioned note,
probably $8,750.
So how much you want for them?
Well, the better-conditioned one, $12,500,
the lesser condition, $8,750.
OK.
Have you had these checked out by anybody?
No, I have not it checked out.
Had notes checked out one time, and they
were gone for over two months.
It cost a lot of money.
I mean, I can call someone to take a look at it.
Definitely.
A lot of times when it's too good to be true, it usually is.
Hold on a few minutes.
I'm going to go give him a call, and I'm going to get Ben here.
OK.
Thanks.
Having an expert come in, very interested to see
what he has to say.
I'm strictly a collector.
I have not been doing this an incredibly long time,
so I'm excited to learn everything
I can about these notes.
He's got printed Chinese notes.
Wow.
Look at that.
Wow.
He says they're from the 14th century.
Well, you know, it is so fascinating to me
to take a look at ancient Chinese currency.
And there's a guy in history.
That's the guy who invented paper.
Oh, really?
His name was Cai Lun.
And he actually invented paper in 105 AD.
He used macerated bark.
He used old fishing nets.
He used rags, boiled it all together.
And it turns to paper, right?
Right.
So it kind of changed the world.
Sure.
I've seen examples of currency that
go all the way back to 250 AD.
And back in those days, money was
used almost like an IOU note.
Basically, it would say I owe you two amounts of silver,
and then I owe you seven coils of copper.
And that way started currency.
As I'm looking at this, with my expertise,
this is Ming dynasty, OK?
You flip this over, and right there that tells you
how much money's involved, OK?
You've got two big druckets of silver.
And this is going to be copper--
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 druckets of copper.
This is the emperor's seal right here.
So I can take one look at that and say that's Emperor Yuan.
This is Ming.
So you've got two different pieces of currency in here.
Yes.
So is it real?
What do you think, Chumlee?
Does it look old to you and 750 years old?
About as old as you.
[laughter]
- Not quite-- - You're funny.
--700 years.
You're really funny.
Well, handmade paper that came out of that dynasty--
and it's come over my desk at the university before--
it usually is more frayed.
It's got a thicker texture to it.
And handmade paper, there's no consistency to it.
It's kind of like, you know, rough looking.
Well, I'm just going to say, based on what I've seen,
I cannot say that this is real.
It kind of looks too clean, too new to be 700 years old.
I understand.
All right.
OK, sir.
Appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
You're basically looking at paper that's 700 years old.
And by the time it would get to my desk, it's very frayed.
This stuff looked like it came off the press yesterday.
So it really did throw up a red flag with me.
I mean, maybe there's a slight chance
and a really slight chance that it's some way legitimate.
Old paper like this, it becomes brittle.
Interesting.
I mean, you can send it off to a currency-grading company
and maybe for some weird reason they were like this,
but I really doubt it.
I appreciate it.
Have a good one, man.
You too.
Thank you.
Well, I definitely am disappointed
they feel they're not real.
I'm not sure if I agree with them.
I'm not sure how many of these have come across their desk.