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1 Cash Kaiyuan Tongbao, Min
| Issuer | Min Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 916 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 23 mm |
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| Obverse description | Central square perforation surrounded by a raised rim on both inner and outer edges. Four Chinese clerical-script characters arranged in cruciform fashion around the central hole, reading top-to-bottom and right-to-left: 開元通寶 (Kaiyuan Tongbao). The characters are boldly cast in relief against a flat, unadorned field, rendered in the formal clerical script (lishu) style characteristic of Tang and Five Dynasties period cash coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain flat field with a central square perforation flanked by raised inner and outer rims. A single Chinese regular-script character 閩 (Mǐn), denoting the Min Kingdom, is cast in relief above the central hole. The reverse is otherwise unadorned, with the mint-identifying character serving as the sole design element, a convention typical of Five Dynasties period regional cash issues. |
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| Additional information |
The Min Kingdom, one of the Ten Kingdoms that fragmented China following the Tang collapse, occupied the Fujian region and maintained a largely isolated political existence under the Wang clan from 909 until its violent implosion in 945. Lead coinage of this type reflects Min's chronic copper shortage — the kingdom controlled little of the metal-bearing territory that Tang provincial governors had relied upon, and lead became a functional substitute for small transactions along the Fujian coast.
Hartill 15.52 is among the more precisely attributable Min issues, though lead's susceptibility to oxidation means surfaces on surviving examples are rarely clean.