1 Cash - Guangxu 1898-1899

Weight

NA

Diameter

21 mm

Thickness

NA

Material

Brass

Shape

Round with a square hole

Edge Type

Plain

Technique

Cast

Front design

Four Chinese ideograms read top to bottom, right to left.

Back design

Two Manchu words (read vertically) separated by the hole, all with dot above.

Year of Minting

1898-1899

Emperor

Qing dynasty › Guangxu (光緒帝) (1875-1908)

Mint location

NA

Mint mark

NA

Orientation

Medal alignment ↑↑

Inscriptions

Obverse: 光 寶 通 緒 Reverse: ᠪᠣᠣ ᠴᡳᠣᠸᠠᠨ

Context

At the start of 1898, the president of the Board of Revenue introduced a new control on the coins: one character from the Qian Zi Wen (Thousand Character Classic; an ancient poem written using 1,000 different ideograms) would be added to the reverse, changing each quarter of the year. While this type does not have an ideogram, Hartill includes it within the same series. The system was meant so one could tell when the coin was cast; however, the ideograms used are not consecutive and seem to have been chosen at random, so the exact time each ideogram was used is currently unknown. Hartill does not give a new number for the different privy marks, but reports that each privy mark can be found on these coins. DocTongDots DocTongHead DocBooProt

Rarity

Ultra rare

Coin type

Standard circulation

In circulation

No

Demonetized

Yes

Marketplace listings

0