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10 Cash Taiping Tianguo / Shengbao, vertical
| Issuer | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1856-1862 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Cast brass cash coin featuring a central square hole surrounded by four large Chinese characters arranged vertically and horizontally in the fields. Reading top-to-bottom and right-to-left, the characters 太平天國 (Tai Ping Tian Guo, meaning 'Taiping Heavenly Kingdom') are rendered in a bold, slightly irregular script characteristic of Taiping coinage. The characters fill the four quadrants of the obverse field, separated by the central perforation. The flat, unadorned rim is broad and slightly irregular, reflecting the hand-cast manufacture typical of this issue. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Chinese (traditional, regular script) |
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| Additional information |
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom controlled a substantial portion of the Yangtze River valley for over a decade, administering territory that at its peak encompassed tens of millions of subjects. These cash coins were struck to fund a millenarian Christian insurgency that ultimately cost an estimated 20 to 30 million lives — the deadliest civil war in recorded history. The Qing dynasty's eventual suppression of the movement in 1864, aided materially by the Ever Victorious Army under Frederick Townsend Ward and later Charles Gordon, ended coin production entirely.
The vertical reverse orientation distinguishes this variety within the Taiping series and is the feature captured in Hartill's 23.8 classification.