1 Cash - Jiajing Tongbao

The Jiajing Emperor's reign produced one of the more administratively contentious coinages of the Ming period. Jiajing himself was famously indifferent to conventional governance, delegating heavily while pursuing Daoist ritual — yet his treasury demanded enormous output from both the Board of Revenue and Board of Works mints operating in parallel, each producing cash with subtle differences in casting quality and brass alloy consistency that specialists use to attribute pieces today.

Brass was formally adopted over bronze for Ming cash during this reign, a deliberate shift driven by copper supply constraints and the relative abundance of zinc from Yunnan smelting operations.