10 Cash - Dayuan Tongbao, 'Phags-pa script

Issued under Emperor Renzong (Ayurbarwada) during the Yuan dynasty, this piece belongs to a short-lived series struck using the 'Phags-pa script — a Tibetan-derived alphabet commissioned by Kublai Khan and designed by the Tibetan monk Drogön Chögyal Phagpa in the 1260s specifically to write all languages of the Mongol Empire. The script was never widely adopted by the Chinese population and fell out of administrative use within decades. Its appearance on currency was equally brief.

The Dayuan Tongbao series with 'Phags-pa legends was struck for only a single reign period, making surviving examples genuinely scarce. Hartill 19.45 is among the heavier denominations in the group.