Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Cash Taiping Tianguo / Shengbao, vertical
| Issuer | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1856-1862 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Cast brass cash coin with a central square hole, around which four large Chinese characters are arranged in cruciform fashion and read in the traditional vertical sequence: top (太), right (天), bottom (平), left (國), forming the reign title 'Taiping Tianguo' (Taiping Heavenly Kingdom). The characters are rendered in a bold, slightly irregular script consistent with Song-style calligraphy, raised in high relief against a flat, unadorned field. A plain raised rim encircles the composition, and the coin's surface shows the characteristic uneven texture of cast production. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 太 天 國 平 (Translation: Tai Ping Tian Guo — Taiping Heavenly Kingdom) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a millenarian Christian theocracy under Hong Xiuquan that controlled much of southeastern China from Nanjing, issued its own coinage as a direct assertion of dynastic legitimacy against the Qing. These cash pieces were struck during some of the most destructive years of the Taiping Rebellion — a civil conflict that ultimately killed an estimated 20 to 30 million people, making it among the deadliest wars in human history.
The vertical reverse reading distinguishes Hartill 23.7 from horizontally-read variants of the same type — a small but catalogued distinction that reflects the practical inconsistency of Taiping mint operations under near-constant military pressure.