20 Cash '20 CASH'

Hunan's copper cash issues of this period were produced in a province that had been minting on its own authority since the late Qing, and the mint continued operating through successive warlord administrations with remarkable continuity. By 1919, the provincial government was nominally under Beijing's Republic but effectively autonomous. These 20 cash pieces circulated alongside a chaotic mix of provincial, national, and foreign copper in a region where small-denomination coinage was perpetually undersupplied and frequently counterfeited.

Y#400a distinguishes this variety from the closely related Y#400 by subtle die differences that collectors have documented but attribution in the field remains genuinely contested.