10 Fen - Guangxu Four characters

Hunan was among the last of the major provincial mints to begin striking machine-made silver coinage, coming online only after sustained pressure from Beijing to standardize currency across the empire. The Four Characters designation distinguishes this type from later Hunan issues that added additional inscription elements — a distinction that matters considerably for attribution, as the two types are frequently conflated in older references.

Y#115.1 represents a recognized die variety with subtle differences in character spacing that collectors have used to sequence production runs, though no firm mintage data survives for either variety.