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1 Cash Kaiyuan Tongbao, Clerical script, with crescent
| Issuer | Southern Tang Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 961-976 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Chinese (Traditional, Clerical script) |
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| Reverse description | Essentially plain reverse featuring a central square perforation enclosed by a raised square rim and an outer circular rim, with a single crescent-shaped mark positioned below the square hole, facing downward toward the outer rim. The field is otherwise unadorned and flat, covered with a mottled blue-green and brown patina. The crescent mark serves as a mint or batch control symbol characteristic of certain Southern Tang cash issues catalogued under Hartill 15.102. |
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| Additional information |
The Southern Tang, ruling a prosperous lower Yangtze kingdom from Nanjing, issued Kaiyuan Tongbao coins well after the original Tang dynasty had collapsed — a deliberate borrowing of a prestigious monetary identity rather than any administrative continuity with the earlier regime. The crescent mark, punched or cast into the reverse, likely denotes a specific furnace or supervisory workshop, a practice documented across Five Dynasties period mints where output tracking was decentralized and often inconsistent.
Li Yu, the last Southern Tang ruler during whose reign these were struck, is better remembered as a lyric poet than an administrator. His kingdom fell to Song forces in 975.