2 Cash - Chunxi Yuanbao, Regular script, Tong, iron

Chunxi was the reign era of Emperor Xiaozong of the Southern Song, a period when Song monetary policy was under extraordinary pressure from the costs of maintaining defensive lines against the Jurchen Jin dynasty to the north. Iron cash were struck in large quantities as a deliberate instrument of regional monetary control — copper coinage was restricted from crossing into certain frontier zones, so iron filled the gap in circuits where copper was suppressed. This particular two-cash issue was produced at the Tong mint in Tongchuan prefecture, modern Sichuan, one of the key iron-cash producing regions of the dynasty.