5000 Cash - Wang Mang First reform

Wang Mang's monetary reforms were among the most ambitious — and catastrophically received — currency interventions in Chinese history. The First Reform of 7 AD introduced a bewildering array of new denominations intended to replace Han coinage, with this 5000-cash piece sitting at the extreme upper end of a system the population largely refused to use. Merchants and commoners continued transacting in the familiar Wu Zhu cash, openly defying imperial edicts that made such use a banishment offense.

The gold inlay work distinguishes this issue from the broader reform coinage. By 9 AD, Wang Mang had proclaimed the Xin dynasty outright and launched a second, even more chaotic reform that rendered the first obsolete within two years of inception.