2 Cash - Chunxi Yuanbao, Regular script, Song, with year, iron

Chunxi was the reign period of Emperor Xiaozong, and the Southern Song government's reliance on iron cash during this period was a direct consequence of copper scarcity and the permanent loss of northern mining regions to the Jurchen Jin dynasty after 1127. Iron coinage was never a preference — it was a fiscal accommodation, struck in provincial foundries rather than the central mint infrastructure that had previously supplied the empire.

The addition of a reign year on iron cash of this type is the detail worth noting: not all Chunxi iron issues carry year marks, making dated examples marginally more traceable within the 1174–1189 reign span. Hartill 17.266 places this specifically within the 1180–1184 window.