20 Cash Szechuan-Shensi Soviet, countermarked

The Szechuan-Shensi Soviet — established in late 1932 in the Tongjiang region — operated its own mint under conditions of active Nationalist encirclement, producing coinage for a territory that existed, effectively, under siege. Countermarked issues of this type were applied to pre-existing Republican or imperial copper cash to extend the monetary supply when raw materials or minting capacity were insufficient to meet demand.

The base coins receiving these countermarks varied considerably in origin, which is why weights across surviving examples are inconsistent. Authentication is complicated by the volume of fantasy strikes and posthumous countermarks that entered the market from the 1980s onward.