What is this Chinese brick?

The weight is 50*50gram=2500gram

 

The words are mixed with traditional and simplified. I highly doubt this silver bar is made of real silver.

One side of this bar points out it is a silver bar for Taiwan official use, another side marks it is a "Fengtian silver bar" which means it was produced in Northeast China.

Check this link on youtube(From 3:22 to the end), which could be a little helpful.

 

You are talking about the modern tael while i was talking about the ancient tale. They are different. however i was wrong saying 34. it should be 37.5g
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tael
if this bar was real it should be scaled by ancient tael.

 

Brought the piece to two pawn shops and their acid tests came negative. So, I guess not silver. Unless silver core with coated alloy on the top but why someone would do that. Or silver content that the test cannot detect? But I doubt that, as if authentic, the bar should be pure or close to pure silver.
I read that there are some old sycee bars that do not follow the general rule of the weight of 1 teal but they are usually heavier than what supposed to be, not lighter.
As to the characters, they turned to be all Traditional besides the first one that should be strictly 臺 but here is somewhat abbreviated. I guess such should not be present on official government piece.
I emailed the person who wrote great material about Chinese sycees but no reply yet.

http://www.sycee-on-line.com/Sycee_talks.htm

And by the way, the 50 teal bar from pinterest appears to be very close in appearance to mine, so maybe it is not authentic either. Wish there was more info about it.

 

No, 灣 wan is in simplified form.

My guess is that this is a paperweight, commonly used in calligraphy, in the shape of a silver ingot.

Chinese paperweights usually come in pairs, and you can pick up a matching one over on Yahoo Auctions Taiwan for not very much money.

 

I am not sure if it is a simplified form, at least not a modern one. Again, somewhat abbreviated. The original character looks too complex to be molded so maybe they 'simplified' it.

 

Nothing is too complex to be molded and cast.

 

Well, I am sure it is in simplified form.

And I am sure you've got a fake silver ingot there.

Here's a Taobao page dedicated to sale of 仿古銀條 fake silver ingots, prices in RMB:

https://www.taobao.com/product/仿古銀條.htm

And here's your very own "silver" ingot for sale on Yahoo Auctions Taiwan for the equivalent of US$33, prices in NTD:

https://tw.bid.yahoo.com/item/銀錠-古錢幣-大清庫銀-元寶-銀錠-台灣府課南-奉天紋銀-100336867210

 

I'd vote for the idea that it is a paperweight in the shape of an ingot. Makes perfect sense.