2 Cash - Dasong Yuanbao, iron

Dasong Yuanbao was issued under Emperor Lizong during the Baoqing reign period, one of the few Southern Song iron cash issues tied to a reign title that itself carried deliberate political weight — "Baoqing" roughly translates as "protecting celebration," adopted at a court still reeling from the Jurchen Jin dynasty's occupation of the north. Iron coinage proliferated across the Southern Song precisely because copper was chronically scarce, diverted to military casting and lost to the truncated northern territories. These iron issues circulated heavily in Sichuan and other interior regions where bronze coin supply had effectively collapsed.