1 Cash - Anonymous Kaiyuan Tongbao, Xiang

The "Xiang" mint mark beneath the square hole identifies this piece as a product of Xiangzhou, in modern Hunan province. Kaiyuan Tongbao coinage was introduced in 621 under Tang Taizong and became so dominant that it effectively displaced earlier weight-based denomination systems — the cash piece itself was recalibrated against the Kaiyuan standard for centuries afterward. By the period this example was struck, the Tang court had already weathered the catastrophic An Lushan Rebellion and was hemorrhaging provincial authority to autonomous military governors, many of whom operated their own mints with decreasing oversight from Chang'an.