sycee-silver

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The fine (uncoined) lumps of silver used by the Chinese as money, the liang (or ounce) being the unit of reckoning in weighing it out. See dotchin, liang, and tael. The lumps are of all sizes and shapes, from the merest fragment or clipping to the form of ingot called a shoe, because of its supposed resemblance to a Chinese shoe, but it is more like a boat. These “shoes” usually weigh about 50 liang, but smaller ingots of that shape are also found. The smaller ingots called tings are hemispherical, and average about five or six ounces in weight.