10 Cash - Xianfeng Zhongbao, Boo-chang

The Boo-chang mint — serving Hunan province — was among dozens of provincial facilities pressed into emergency cash production during the Taiping Rebellion, when the Qing government desperately needed coinage to pay troops and stabilize markets across the interior. The large-denomination cast brass issues of Xianfeng, including this ten-cash piece, were an inflationary stopgap; the dynasty simultaneously authorized iron and lead versions at some mints when copper and brass supplies ran short.

Hunan sat directly in the path of Taiping military campaigns, making consistent output from Boo-chang erratic across the issue's run.