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1 Cash Taiping Tianguo / Shengbao, horizontal
| Issuer | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1856-1864 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Cash (1853-1864) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Cast brass cash coin of traditional Chinese form, featuring a central square perforation surrounded by a raised inner rim. Four Chinese characters in regular script (kaishu) are disposed in cruciform arrangement around the central hole: read top to bottom and right to left, they render the reign legend 太平天國 (Taiping Tianguo, 'Taiping Heavenly Kingdom'). The characters are boldly rendered in raised relief against a flat field, with the outer rim encircling the entire design. The coin displays an aged patina with dark encrustations consistent with a cast bronze-brass alloy. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 太平天國 (Translation: Tai Ping Tian Guo — Taiping Heavenly Kingdom) |
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| Additional information |
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not a dynasty minting ceremonial coinage — it was a millenarian Christian insurgency that held Nanjing for over a decade and killed an estimated 20 to 30 million people in the bloodiest civil war in human history. These cash coins were functional military and administrative currency issued from captured southern mints, part of a deliberate effort by Hong Xiuquan's government to establish parallel institutions against the Qing. The horizontal orientation of the reverse inscription is the distinguishing feature of Hartill 23.14 within the Shengbao series.