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1 Cash - Anonymous Kaiyuan Tongbao, Dan
| Issuer | Tang Dynasty |
|---|---|
| Year | 841-907 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Cast bronze cash coin of the standard Tang dynasty round-with-square-hole (方孔圓錢) form. The four-character inscription 開元通寶 is disposed radially around the central square perforation in clerical script (隸書), reading clockwise from the top: 開 (top), 通 (right), 寶 (bottom), 元 (left). The characters are boldly rendered with strong strokes and stand in moderate relief against a flat, unadorned field. A raised inner rim borders the square hole on all four sides, and a broader raised outer rim encircles the coin's circumference. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (841-907) - Hartill#14.51: Dan above - ND (841-907) - Hartill#14.52: Dan to the right and sideways - ND (841-907) - Hartill#14.53: Dan below and inverted - |
| Additional information |
The "Dan" mint mark on Kaiyuan Tongbao coinage identifies production at Danzhou, in what is now Hainan Island — a remote southern outpost whose output is among the scarcer provincial varieties of the late Tang series. By the mid-9th century the dynasty was hemorrhaging territory and administrative control following the Huang Chao rebellion's precursors and the slow collapse of central authority. Provincial mints operated with increasing autonomy, and mint mark consistency suffered accordingly. Hartill's 14.51 attribution places this squarely in the anonymous issues, where no reign-era inscription distinguishes the casting authority.