An early-modern Chinese coin

Cast and Milled coins

The end of the Chinese Empire in 1912 was the end of a 2,300 year old system of government in the country. It came at a time of great change. Along with the Emperor, China had used cast “Cash” coins for around the same amount of time. From early Wu Zhu coins (this one 115-113 BC), through the Northern Song dynasty (the most prolific coin producing period). Finally, in the early 1900s, China started experimenting with “milled” rather than “cast” coins. Traditional Chinese Cash coins were made of copper and are round with a square hole, with four characters (top, bottom, right and left, commonly read in that order). Coins were “cast” by pouring molten metal into a mould, either clay or sand. The coins were then placed on a square rod and filed to give an even edge. That’s why the hole was square – so the coins didn’t move on the rod when being filed.

“Milling” coins on the other hand, is the process that modern coins use today. It involves an assembly line where blank metal or “planchets” are fed into a machine which accurately stamps each side and the rim (edge) as needed. Here is a 25 minute tour of the Perth Mint showing their production process.

Currency reform

In the early 1900s, as well as trying out modern minting methods with traditional cash designs, China also experimented with more modern designs and with reforming currency. Previously, the two types of money used in China were the Cash coin (worth one wen) and the silver Liang. The Liang was a silver ingot (also called yinliang, yinding, and the Malaysian word “Tael”). The exchange rate varied between 700 – 1200 Cash coins to one Liang, although “The Monetary Reform of China 1900 – 1940” by Lynn Chang, notes exchange rates up to 1:3000.

Western silver coins such as Spanish and Mexican coins had circulated in coastal provinces for centuries, and various local regions, such as Tibet and Xinjiang, although occupied by Chinese Qing empire, still had their own currencies.

The first suggestion to use mechanical production was made in 1867. In 1882 copper prototypes were made based on Western silver coins. With the plan to keep the exchange rate at 1:1000 between copper and silver, tests of minted 1 Cash were accepted in the money market in Guandong. Higher value, 5 and 10 Cash coins were tested, but not circulated. Mints in Tianjin and Zhejiang went to machine production in 1896, but other provincial mints followed only hesitatingly. The dimensions of the coins were not in accordance with the standard ones issued by the central government.

10 cash coins

Guandong produced copper coins in 1900. The coins bore the inscription “每百枚換一圓” meaning “100 cash corresponds to one Yuan”. The coins also had the English “Kwangtung One Cent”, in later models “Kwangtung Ten Cash”, which means that one of these modern coins was exchangeable with ten traditional copper coins. The new coin instantly won the confidence of the government, and it was imitated by nearly all other provinces. In 1905 the central government issued statutes for the production of modern coins. Modern 1-wen coins were only produced locally. The most often produced modern cash coin was the 10-wen coin, also called dantongyuan 單銅元 or dantongban 單銅板; all other denominations were rare.

10 cash coins were continued into the Republic era, eventually becoming 1-Fen coins. Numista lists 124 milled 10 Cash coins, from the Qing dynasty through to the Republic, though only listing 12 varieties from the latter period. “The Ten Cash Commentary” is a comprehensive book on coins issued during the Republic, covering 162 varieties from this period alone.

Obverse

Numista describes the obverse as:

Four Chinese ideograms read top to bottom, right to left, with Manchu characters above and more ideograms around.

Scripts: Chinese (traditional, regular script), Mongolian / Manchu

Lettering:
午 ᠪᠠᡩᠠᠷᠠᠩᡤᠠ ᡩᠣᠷᠣ ᡳ ᠠᠨᡳᠶᠠᡳ ᠸᡝᡳᠯᡝᡥᡝ 丙
部戶
大
幣銅
清
文十錢制當

Translation:
Guangxu (Emperor) / Made in the Year 43
Ministry of Revenue (minting authority)
Great Qing’s copper currency
Currency worth 10 Cash (Wen)

Numista lists 19 different mintmarks (found at the very centre of the coin, between the four Chinese characters indicating the value). The mark in the centre of today’s coin matches Fukien:

Reverse

The reverse contains a dragon with pearl at centre.

Above, is the text “造年緒光” which translates to “Made in the reign of Guangxu (Emperor)”.

At the bottom is “TAI-CHING-TI-KUO COPPER COIN” in English, which means “Copper coin of the Great Qing Empire”.

Here is another 10 Cash coin I picked up at the same time. The mintmark is a lot harder to read on this one. Comparing with the references on Numista, what do you think?

Possibly Hupeh? Let us know what you think?

While you’re pondering my mystery mintmark – What is your favourite Chinese coin? Do you love ancient cash coins? Modern Yuan coins? Or maybe these early “transitional” coins with elements of both? Let us know!