Catalog
1 Cash - Huangsong Tongbao, Tin imitation
| Issuer | Malay peninsula |
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| Year | |
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| Thickness | 0.85 mm |
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| Obverse description | Cast tin cash coin of the Malay peninsula type, imitating the Chinese Song dynasty Huangsong Tongbao prototype. Four Chinese seal-script characters are arranged in cruciform fashion around a central square perforation, reading clockwise: 皇 (huang, top), 通 (tong, right), 寶 (bao, bottom), 宋 (Song, left). The characters are rendered in low relief with softened, somewhat degraded definition characteristic of a provincial imitation cast in tin rather than the original copper alloy. The flat field between the characters and the plain rim shows a granular surface texture consistent with tin oxidation and age patina. |
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| Obverse script | Chinese (traditional, seal script) |
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| Additional information |
Huangsong Tongbao cash coins were produced during the Huangsong reign period of the Northern Song emperor Renzong, from 1049 to 1054. Tin imitations of Chinese cash circulated widely across the Malay peninsula and Indonesian archipelago as local substitutes, produced by regional mints or workshops filling a chronic shortage of genuine copper coinage. The originals were never struck in great quantity, making them an unusual choice of prototype — whoever selected this type likely worked from whatever example was locally available.