The earliest minted coins in the world were cloth coins and knife coins minted in China during the Western Zhou Dynasty and the early Spring and Autumn Period (about 800 BC).

Minted coins are metal currencies with a certain shape, weight, color and denomination value, the world's earliest minted coins are China's Western Zhou Dynasty and the early Spring and Autumn Period (about 800 BC) minted cloth coins and knife coins.

The shape of cloth coins is very similar to the ancient agricultural tool of hoeing,尃.

The shape of the cloth coin is very similar to the ancient agricultural tool for hoeing,尃. "It is also called "shovel coin" because of its shovel-like shape. The cloth coins are divided into several categories, such as primitive cloth, empty-headed cloth, pointed-footed cloth, square-footed cloth and round-footed cloth, and ? The cloth is divided into a number of categories.

Knife coins take the shape of the ancient fishing and hunting with a tool to cut. Knife-shaped, shaped like a knife. Mainly divided into two categories. The "big knife" is Qi's goods seal, "small knife" is the currency of Yan and Zhao. Currency history, respectively, Qi knife, Yan knife, Zhao knife.

The cloth and knife coins are the evolution of the production tools, is the prototype of metal coins. After Qin Shi Huang unified China, also unified the coinage system, a variety of cloth coins, knife coins were abolished, and replaced by the weight of the half-two square hole round money, that is, "Qin half-two". Later, Wang Mang copied the use of cloth and knife coins for a time.

The minting of gold and silver coins in the world can be traced back to the Assyrian Empire, which was located in West Asia at the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the 7th century BC. At that time, the Assyrian Empire was the most powerful slave state. The capital of the Kingdom of Lydia under it, Sardes, was located at the hub of Eurasian transportation and trade, and commerce flourished. The merchants there accumulated a great deal of wealth in the East-West trade. At the same time, the Lydian Kingdom utilized the rich gold and silver deposits, drove the slaves to mine gold and silver in large quantities, and minted and issued the world's earliest gold and silver coins. This kind of gold and silver alloy coins are ellipsoidal, like a bean, the surface of the coins are cast with seals, stripes and a variety of animal heads. After the issue of this coinage, soon spread to Persia, Greece, Italy and other countries, the impact is extremely far-reaching.

In China, the earliest gold and silver minted coins were manufactured in the state of Chu during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, with silver coins having the same shape as copper shovel coins, while gold coins were known as Ying Yuan.