When I started writing about the Vietnam Khải Định Thông Bảo, I wanted to share with you an interesting milled cash coin. But, it got me thinking about the transition from cast cash coins like the Qian Long Tong Bao to milled coins like the previously mentioned Vietnamese piece and the China Guang Xu Tong Bao, through…

Most Asian cash coins, such as the Japanese 4 Mon and the Chinese Cash coins were cast, with molten metal poured into a mold, shaping it into coins. Japan was just about the first Asian country to embrace western machine milling methods with the Mieji restoration in the 1870s. Vietnam was interesting in that it…