40 Cash - Wang Mang Second reform

Wang Mang's monetary reforms were among the most ambitious — and catastrophic — currency experiments in Chinese history. The Second Reform of 9–10 AD introduced a bewildering array of denominations intended to replace Han coinage, but the public largely refused to use them. Merchants and commoners continued trading in the old Wu Zhu cash, which Wang Mang had explicitly banned under penalty of enslavement for the entire household of the offender.

This 40-cash piece sits at the upper end of that ill-fated system. The reforms collapsed within years, and Wang Mang's Xin dynasty fell in 23 AD when Han loyalists and peasant rebels converged on Chang'an.