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8 Cash - Xiangfeng Zhongbao, Boo-di, Urumchi, large size
| Issuer | Qing Dynasty Imperial Mint, Urumchi (Boo-di) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857 |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round with a square hole |
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| Obverse description | Cast copper cash coin with a central square perforation. Four Chinese characters in regular script (kaishu) are arranged in the traditional reading order: top, bottom, right, left around the central square hole, reading 咸豐重寶 (Xianfeng Zhongbao), denoting the reign title of the Xianfeng Emperor and the legend 'heavy currency'. The characters are rendered in bold, slightly worn relief against a flat field, with a plain raised rim encircling the obverse. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 咸 寶 重 豐 (Translation: Xian Feng Zhong Bao Xianfeng (Emperor) / Heavy currency) |
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| Additional information |
The Boo-di mint at Urumchi was established specifically to supply coinage for Xinjiang, a region the Qing court had only formally incorporated as a province-level territory in 1884 but had been administering through military garrisons since the 1750s. Cash coins struck here circulated in an economy that ran parallel to — and often in tension with — the silver-based trade networks connecting Central Asia to the Russian Empire. The "large size" designation within this type reflects a deliberate policy variation rather than production inconsistency, with differing module sizes issued concurrently to serve different transaction values in local markets.
Hartill 22.1104 is among the scarcer Urumchi issues of the Xianfeng period, a reign already notorious for monetary chaos — the court flooded markets with enormous overvalued iron and brass cash to fund suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, badly eroding public trust in copper coinage generally.