Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
2 Cash - Jiatai Tongbao, Chun, iron
| Issuer | Empire of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1201-1203 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | 29 mm |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Chinese (traditional, regular script) |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain reverse field with a central square perforation enclosed by a raised square inner rim. Above the square hole, the mint indicator character 春 (Chun, for Qichun Mint) is cast in raised regular script, while below appears the numeral 三 (San, meaning 'three'), denoting the third year of the Jiatai reign era (1203). The surrounding field is largely plain, bounded by a raised outer rim, and the surface exhibits heavy iron corrosion consistent with the composition, displaying mottled ochre-brown and metallic grey patination. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Jiatai reign (1201–1204) fell during the Southern Song's prolonged standoff with the Jin dynasty, a period when copper shortages drove the court to authorize large-scale iron cash production. Iron coinage was always a second-best solution — prone to corrosion, rejected by merchants when alternatives existed, and chronically overproduced relative to actual demand. The "Chun" mint designation indicates production at Chun Prefecture in modern Hunan, one of several provincial facilities pressed into service to meet the wartime fiscal shortfall.
Survivors in collectible condition are genuinely scarce. Iron cash corroded in hoards far more aggressively than bronze, and much of what circulated was eventually melted or simply disintegrated in the ground.