Kirin Province's copper cash series of the early 1900s was produced under significant administrative pressure as the Qing central government pushed provincial mints to mechanize and adopt Western-style struck coinage to displace the older cast cash economy. The Boo-gi mint — the Manchu name for Jilin city — operated with inconsistent equipment and supply chains, which accounts for the multiple die varieties documented across this denomination.
Y#A176 distinguishes this piece from the related Y#176 issues by its eight-character reverse inscription rather than the more common six-character format — a small bureaucratic distinction that nonetheless defines separate catalog entries and affects relative scarcity.
Kirin Province's copper cash series of the early 1900s was produced under significant administrative pressure as the Qing central government pushed provincial mints to mechanize and adopt Western-style struck coinage to displace the older cast cash economy. The Boo-gi mint — the Manchu name for Jilin city — operated with inconsistent equipment and supply chains, which accounts for the multiple die varieties documented across this denomination.
Y#A176 distinguishes this piece from the related Y#176 issues by its eight-character reverse inscription rather than the more common six-character format — a small bureaucratic distinction that nonetheless defines separate catalog entries and affects relative scarcity.