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1 Cash Kaiyuan Tongbao, Seal script
| Issuer | Southern Tang Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 961-976 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.68 g |
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| Obverse description | Cast bronze cash coin featuring four Chinese characters in seal script (zhuanshu) arranged in cruciform fashion around a central square hole, read top-to-bottom and right-to-left: 開 (top), 元 (right), 通 (bottom), 寶 (left). The characters are boldly rendered in the archaic seal script style, set within a plain inner rim surrounding the square perforation and enclosed by a raised outer rim. The flat field between the inner and outer rims is unadorned. The overall style is characteristic of Southern Tang coinage issued during the reign of Li Yu. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Southern Tang kingdom minted this Kai Yuan type in seal script — a deliberate archaism — during the reign of Li Yu, the last ruler of the dynasty, a poet-emperor whose cultural refinements far outpaced his political competence. The seal script character style distinguishes this issue from the standard clerical-script Kaiyuan Tongbao that had dominated Chinese bronze coinage since the Tang dynasty proper, nearly three centuries earlier.
Li Yu surrendered to the Song in 975 and died under house arrest two years later, almost certainly poisoned. The kingdom's minting operations ceased with the conquest.