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5 Cash Tianguo Shengbao / Taiping
| Issuer | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1853-1859 |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | 天聖國寶 (Translation: Tian Guo Sheng Bao - Heavenly Kingdom Sacred Currency) |
| Reverse description | Cast reverse displaying two large Chinese characters in regular script (kaishu) arranged vertically above and below the central square hole, reading top to bottom: 太平 (Taiping, meaning 'Great Peace' or 'Taiping'). The characters are boldly raised in high relief against a flat, unadorned field, enclosed by a plain raised rim. The design is simple and emblematic, referencing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement directly through its name. |
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| Additional information |
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a millenarian Christian theocracy that controlled much of southern China during the 1850s, issued its own coinage as a deliberate assertion of dynastic legitimacy against the Qing. This piece, reading Tianguo Shengbao — "Sacred Currency of the Heavenly Kingdom" — circulated within territories where Hong Xiuquan's movement held administrative control, primarily in the Yangtze valley after the fall of Nanjing in 1853.
Hartill 23.21 identifies this as the brass 5 Cash variety. The Taiping mint output was inconsistent, and die quality varies considerably across the series.