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2 Cash - Yuanfeng Tongbao, Seal script, iron
| Issuer | Northern Song Dynasty Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1078-1085 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Iron |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Cast iron cash coin featuring four Chinese ideograms arranged in cruciform order around a central square perforation, reading clockwise in Seal script (篆書): 元 (top), 豐 (right), 通 (bottom), 寶 (left), forming the legend 元豐通寶 (Yuanfeng Tongbao). The characters are rendered in the archaic zhuanshu seal script style, with bold, deeply incised strokes rising from a flat field within a raised inner rim. A plain raised outer rim encircles the design, consistent with standard Northern Song cast coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Yuanfeng was the reign era of Emperor Shenzong, and the period saw aggressive monetary expansion as part of Wang Anshi's New Policies reforms — a sweeping fiscal overhaul that included deliberately increasing the iron cash supply to ease chronic copper shortages in the northern circuits. Iron 2-cash pieces were produced at multiple furnace mints inland, particularly in Shaanxi and Hedong, precisely because copper supply routes from the south were unreliable under the reform economy. Hartill 16.228 is among the commoner iron types of the era, but attrition from rust means genuinely intact survivors are less routine than their original volumes would suggest.