10 Cash Kaiyuan Tongbao, Min and crescent, iron

The Min Kingdom controlled Fujian from 909 until its collapse in 945, and its coin output reflects the chronic copper shortage that plagued southern China's fragmented successor states following the Tang collapse. Iron coinage was a practical response to that shortage, not a stylistic choice. The crescent mark on this type functioned as a mint or foundry identifier, a convention carried forward from late Tang administrative practice.

Hartill 15.50 is among the heavier iron cash of the Five Dynasties period — a mass suggesting these were struck to compete in purchasing power with copper issues rather than simply fill a gap.