Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 Cash - Qianfeng Quanbao, large type
| Issuer | Ma Chu Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 925-930 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Cash |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Cast iron cash coin of large module featuring a central square perforation surrounded by a raised square boss. The four-character reign legend 乾豐泉寶 (Qianfeng Quanbao) is disposed in cruciform arrangement around the central hole, reading top-to-bottom and right-to-left in regular script (kaishu), with one character positioned at each cardinal point. The characters are rendered in bold, deeply cast relief against a flat inner field, enclosed within a raised inner rim and an outer circular border. The coin displays heavy iron patina with areas of rust-brown encrustation consistent with age and burial. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 乾 豐 泉 寶 (Translation: Qian Feng Quan Bao - Qianfeng treasure currency) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Ma Chu Kingdom, one of the Ten Kingdoms that fragmented the Tang empire's collapse, operated out of Hunan and maintained a deliberately isolated regional economy. Iron cash of this type circulated internally but were effectively worthless beyond Chu's borders — a feature, not a flaw, as it kept currency from draining out of the kingdom. The large-type denomination was struck in iron precisely because copper was too valuable to coin in quantity under Ma Yin and his successors.
Iron cash of this period corrode aggressively, and survivors in any condition are genuinely scarce.