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1 Cash Hongzhi Tongbao
| Issuer | Ming Dynasty Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1488-1505 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Cash |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
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| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Round cast bronze coin featuring a central square perforation surrounded by four Chinese characters arranged in cruciform reading order. The four-character reign title legend 弘治通寶 (Hongzhi Tongbao) is rendered in regular script (kaishu), reading top-to-bottom and right-to-left across the central void. The characters are set within a plain raised rim, with the fields displaying a heavily patinated surface covered in green cuprite and earth deposits consistent with prolonged burial. The casting is somewhat coarse, typical of provincial or local mint production attributed to the Yunnan-Guizhou region during the Hongzhi reign (1488–1505). |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain reverse showing a central square perforation surrounded by a flat, unadorned field with no inscriptions, symbols, or mint marks. The surface is heavily encrusted with green patina and irregular corrosion typical of cast bronze coins recovered from burial contexts. A raised inner rim borders the central square hole, and an outer rim encircles the coin's edge, both partially obscured by mineral deposits. |
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| Additional information |
The Hongzhi emperor is remembered as one of the more fiscally cautious rulers of the Ming period, and his reign saw genuine attempts to regularize coinage production after decades of erratic output under his predecessors. Central minting authority had largely collapsed during the Chenghua reign, with provincial furnaces producing wildly inconsistent cash. The Hongzhi reforms pulled much of that production back under tighter supervision — though enforcement remained uneven across the empire's vastness.
Cast rather than struck, as with all Ming cash, quality control depended entirely on the skill and honesty of individual furnace supervisors.