1 Cash - Xianfeng Tongbao, Boo-de, iron

The Boo-de iron cash issues of the Xianfeng period exist because copper had effectively run out as a viable mint material. The Taiping Rebellion, then raging across southern China, had severed supply lines and drained treasury reserves simultaneously. Iron was the fallback — cheap, brittle, and deeply unpopular with the population, who hoarded copper coins and rejected iron ones wherever possible.

Hartill 22.1058 is among the more routinely encountered of the Boo-de iron types, but survival in collectible condition is another matter. Iron cash corrode aggressively, and most circulated examples have lost significant surface detail to rust.