5 Cash - Guangxu With minting authority, brass

The Board of Revenue mint in Beijing struck this issue following the Qing court's 1905 decision to modernize the cash coin system and introduce machine-struck brass pieces as a replacement for the cast bronze cash that had circulated in China for over two millennia. The reform was driven partly by the chronic shortage of small change and partly by the proliferation of privately cast counterfeits that had undermined confidence in the old coinage. Resistance from provincial mints, each protecting their own revenue streams, meant central standardization remained incomplete.

Y#9a specifically denotes the variety bearing the minting authority inscription — distinguishing it from otherwise near-identical emissions of the same period.