300 Cash Coin Tally

Lin'an — modern Hangzhou — served as the Southern Song capital after the Jin dynasty's conquest of the north drove the court south in 1127. By the 1260s, the dynasty was in terminal crisis: Mongol forces under Kublai Khan were systematically dismantling what remained of Song territorial control, and the court's monetary policy reflected that desperation. Large-denomination bronze tallies like this 300-cash piece were issued as the government struggled to manage currency supply without adequate copper reserves, effectively forcing high face-value tokens into a circulation the market increasingly distrusted.

Lin'an fell to Kublai's forces in 1276, just over a decade after this issue.