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1 Cash - Khai Thái Nguyên Bảo, Regular script
| Issuer | Trần Dynasty (Vietnam) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1324-1329 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 4.01 g |
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| Obverse description | Cast copper cash coin of circular form with a central square perforation, bearing a four-character reign legend in regular script (kaishu) disposed in cruciform arrangement around the square hole. The characters 開泰元寶 (Khai Thái Nguyên Bảo) are read top-bottom-right-left in the traditional manner, with each character occupying one quadrant of the field. The legends are rendered in bold, well-formed strokes characteristic of the regular script style. The coin is struck within a plain raised rim, and the surface shows a typical patina of reddish-brown copper with areas of green encrustation consistent with age. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Chinese (Traditional, Regular script) |
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| Additional information |
The Trần dynasty maintained a cash coinage system borrowed structurally from Chinese precedent, but the reign of Trần Minh Tông — under whose rule this piece was struck — coincided with a period of careful reconstruction following the devastating Mongol invasions of the late 13th century. Three separate Yuan dynasty incursions between 1258 and 1288 had disrupted Vietnamese economic infrastructure severely enough that stable copper coinage in the early 14th century carried genuine administrative weight.
Barker 17.1 is the regular-script variant; a cursive-script type exists for the same reign title, and distinguishing the two requires close attention to the character forms rather than any difference in physical specification.