1 Cash - Cảnh Hưng Thông Bảo, Regular script, zinc

Cảnh Hưng was the longest-reigning monarch of the Later Lê dynasty, ruling nominally from 1740 to 1786 — nominally, because real power rested entirely with the Trịnh lords, who reduced the emperor to a ritual figurehead in Thăng Long while the country fractured between north and south. Cash coins of this reign were struck across an extraordinarily long production window, which accounts for the dramatic variation in fabric, weight, and alloy composition seen across surviving examples. Zinc issues like this one represent a deliberate departure from the brass norm, reflecting chronic copper shortages that worsened as the Trịnh-Nguyễn conflict drained resources across multiple generations.