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3 Cash - Hongwu Tongbao, Zhe
| Issuer | Ming Dynasty Imperial Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1368-1393 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 3 Cash |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Cast bronze cash coin bearing four Chinese characters in regular script (kaishu), arranged in the traditional cross pattern reading top, bottom, right, left around a central square hole. The characters 洪武通寶 (Hóngwǔ Tōngbǎo) occupy the four cardinal fields, reading top-to-bottom and right-to-left. The strokes are bold and well-defined against a flat, unadorned field. No inner or outer rim decoration is present beyond the plain raised borders framing the central perforation and the coin's periphery. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Hongwu emperor, having overthrown the Yuan Dynasty in 1368, was deeply suspicious of paper money — the Yuan had debased their paper currency so catastrophically that it had become nearly worthless. His solution was a forced return to bronze coinage, and the Hongwu Tongbao series was minted in multiple denominations across numerous provincial mints simultaneously. The "Zhe" mint mark indicates production at Zhejiang, one of roughly a dozen regional facilities mobilized for this campaign.
The three-cash denomination is distinguished by its mint mark suffix and sits in the middle of a denomination ladder that ran from one cash to ten. Provincial attribution for these pieces was only systematized in scholarship relatively recently — Hartill's cataloguing remains the primary reference for separating what were once lumped together as generic Hongwu issues.