5 Cash - Guangxu Copper

Szechuan's copper cash series of 1903–1904 emerged directly from the Qing court's 1900 edict authorizing provincial mints to produce machine-struck copper coins as a response to the chronic shortage of small-denomination currency and the rampant counterfeiting plaguing hand-cast cash. Szechuan was among the more remote and administratively independent provinces, and its mint operated with considerable latitude from Beijing's oversight.

Y#225 is among the scarcer provincial issues of the period — Szechuan's output was inconsistent, and the mint faced repeated interruptions from both supply problems and the political instability preceding the 1911 Revolution.