1 Cash Pattern, Minguo Tongbao, iron

The Republic of China's first provisional government under Sun Yat-sen lasted barely six weeks before Yuan Shikai assumed the presidency in March 1912. This iron pattern was among several experimental cash-format pieces struck during that chaotic transitional window, when the new government was simultaneously abolishing imperial coinage conventions and trying to establish a republican monetary identity — without yet having the infrastructure to do either cleanly. Iron was a practical test medium, cheap and available, not intended for circulation.

KM#Pn4 is one of a small group of 1912 cash patterns in various metals. Survivors in any condition are rare; most were never meant to leave the mint.