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1 Cash - Anonymous Kaiyuan Tongbao, Lan
| Issuer | Empire of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 841-907 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Central square hole (穿) surrounded by a raised inner rim and plain field. Four Chinese characters in clerical script (隸書) arranged in cruciform fashion around the central perforation, reading top-bottom and right-left: 開元通寶 (Kai Yuan Tong Bao). The characters are boldly cast in raised relief within a broad, flat field enclosed by a raised outer rim. The coin exhibits a characteristic late Tang casting style with relatively fine stroke definition. |
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| Reverse script | Chinese (traditional, regular script) |
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| Additional information |
The Kaiyuan Tongbao series, introduced in 621 under Tang Taizong, became so dominant that later emperors simply continued striking it anonymously rather than issuing coins under their own reign titles — a practice essentially without precedent in Chinese monetary history. The "Lan" variety, identified by a crescent-shaped mark on the reverse, belongs to a classificatory system still not fully resolved among scholars; whether these marks denote specific mints, furnace supervisors, or batch controls remains contested. Hartill places this type firmly in the late Tang period, when central authority was fracturing under warlord pressure and regional mints operated with increasing independence.