10 Cash - Xianfeng Zhongbao, Ili, iron

The Ili mint, located in what is now Xinjiang, was established to supply coinage to the remote Qing garrisons of Central Asia — a region perpetually underfunded and difficult to supply from the interior. Iron cash from Ili are among the least-documented provincial issues of the Xianfeng period, produced as copper shortages and the catastrophic drain of the Taiping Rebellion forced peripheral mints to use whatever metal was available. Most saw hard local circulation in a frontier economy with few alternatives.

Hartill 22.1088 is genuinely scarce in any condition. Iron corrodes aggressively in burial and storage, and survivors with legible casting detail are far less common than the brass and copper issues from the same mint.