500 Cash - Wang Mang Third reform

Wang Mang's monetary reforms were driven partly by ideology — he was attempting to revive Zhou dynasty economic customs as part of his broader effort to legitimize the Xin dynasty — and partly by a desire to extract value from the population through deliberate currency debasement. The Third Reform of 10 AD introduced a sprawling multi-denomination system of over two dozen coin types, nearly all of which failed to circulate as intended. Hoarding and counterfeiting were immediate and widespread.

The 500-cash valuation on a coin of this weight reflects the coercive fiction at the heart of Mang's system: the face value bore no relationship to metal content.