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1 Mithqual Military payment, General Zuo Zongtang
| Issuer | Sinkiang Province |
|---|---|
| Year | 1876 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Round silver coin featuring a central square perforation, around which four bold Chinese characters are arranged in the traditional cruciform layout, read top to bottom and right to left. The characters 足 (top), 壹 (right), 銀 (bottom), and 錢 (left) radiate outward from the square hole, each deeply struck with a robust brushstroke style. The legend reads 足銀壹錢, denoting 'pure silver, one qian.' The field is plain and unadorned, with a raised rim encircling the design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Round silver coin with a central square perforation, flanked by a Chagatai (Eastern Turki/Uyghur) legend in Arabic script. The word 'مثقال' (mithqal) appears above the square hole, and 'گۆمۈش' (gümüsh, meaning silver) appears below, together conveying the denomination 'one mithqal of silver.' The script is rendered in a bold, cursive hand consistent with regional Central Asian coinage practice of the period. A plain raised rim borders the entire reverse. |
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| Additional information |
Zuo Zongtang financed his 1876 reconquest of Xinjiang — lost to the Dungan revolt and Yaqub Beg's Kashgaria — largely through loans from the Shanghai firm of Hu Xueyan, effectively mortgaging the campaign before a single soldier marched. These military payment pieces were struck to meet immediate troop obligations in the field, not as a general currency issue, which explains their extreme scarcity today. The mithqual weight standard reflects accommodation to local Central Asian commerce rather than any Qing metropolitan system.