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1 Cash - Honghua Tongbao
| Issuer | Great Zhou dynasty (Wu Shifan) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1679-1681 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Cast |
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| Obverse description | Central square perforation surrounded by a raised square border, dividing the field into four quadrants, each containing one Chinese character in regular script (kaishu). The four-character reign title legend reads clockwise from the top: 洪 (Hong), 通 (Tong), 寶 (Bao), 化 (Hua), to be read in the traditional order top-bottom, right-left as 洪化通寶. The characters are boldly cast in relief against a flat, unadorned field, with a plain raised rim encircling the entire obverse. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Wu Shifan was the grandson of Wu Sangui, the Ming general whose decision to open the Shanhai Pass to Qing forces in 1644 effectively ended the Ming dynasty. The Honghua reign title belonged to Wu Shifan alone — his grandfather had used Zhaowu — and it survived barely two years before Qing forces overran Yunnan in 1681 and Wu Shifan died, by most accounts by suicide. The Great Zhou was finished.
Coins of this reign are scarcer than those of Wu Sangui, reflecting the compressed timeframe of actual production in a collapsing rebel state.