An exhibition on ancient coins started at the Taicang Museum on Nov 18. The exhibition will open till Nov 16 and is free of charge for the public.

The exhibition is a courtesy of the Zhangjiagang Museum in the nearby Zhangjiagang city.

Zhangjiagang Museum selected the finest pieces from its ancient Chinese coin collection to show to Taicang. Many of the coins carry a variety of reign titles, which showcases China's imperial history.

A staff member at the Taicang museum said that some Song Dynasty (960-1279) coins were minted with Chinese characters written in cursive hand and official script and have high aesthetic values.

Zhangjiagang Museum has more than 10,000 ancient coins, dating from Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) to modern times. Most are round coins with a square hole in the center, prevalent type throughout China's ancient times. The museum also collects steel coins made between 1911 and 1949.

Edited by Andrew Ancheta