 Occasionally, large hoards of coins have been uncovered.For example, a hoard was discovered in Jiangsu containing 4,000 "Tai Qing Feng Le" coins and at Zhangpu in Shaanxi, a sealed jar containing 1,000 "Ban Liang" coins of various weights and sizes, was discovered.The earliest coinage of China was described by Sima Qian, the great historian of c. 100 BCE