1 Cash - Xuantong Boo-chiowan; replica

The Xuantong cash pieces attributed to the Boo-chiowan mint (the Board of Revenue facility in Beijing) were struck during the last reign of imperial China, 1909–1911. Xuantong was Puyi, the child emperor who abdicated at age six. The Board of Revenue mint had been retooled with Western machinery in the late Qing period, creating an awkward coexistence of traditional cast-style cash forms and modern struck production. This piece is cataloged as a replica — a designation that matters considerably, as posthumous and tourist-market copies of late Qing cash circulated almost immediately after the dynasty collapsed.