1 Cash - Wanli Tongbao, with dot

The Wanli reign (1572–1620) was among the most financially chaotic of the late Ming period. Emperor Shenzong's chronic withdrawal from court business — he refused audiences for over two decades — left the Board of Revenue largely ungoverned, and mint output became erratic across provincial facilities. The dot variety catalogued here under Hartill 20.142 distinguishes production from a specific furnace or supervisory workshop, a detail that mattered to Ming administrators tracking output accountability even as the central government functioned in name only.

By the early 1600s, silver had so thoroughly displaced brass cash in everyday commerce that these coins circulated primarily among the rural poor.