Digital museum showcasing the collection of worldwide legends over the years! 千古不朽博物館展示多年來收藏的世界傳奇故事!
Qing Dynasty, Great Qing Copper Coin,
10 Cash, Kiang-Nan Province
(Ding Wei Version)
清 大清銅幣
十文 戶部中心甯
(丁未版)
Item number: A1595
Year: AD 1907
Material: Copper
Size: 28.3 x 28.3 x 1.4 mm
Weight: 7.45 g
Manufactured by: Nanjing
Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2014
This is a copper coin with a denomination of ten cash, issued from the 32nd year of Guangxu’s reign (AD 1906) onwards, following reforms that established it as a branch of the Ministry of Revenue Mint located in Nanjing, specifically the Jiangning branch. It represents the last type of copper coin produced during the Qing Dynasty, known as the “Great Qing Copper Coin.”
The obverse of the coin features a beaded border, with a five-clawed coiled dragon at the centre, depicted exhaling a fireball. The outer perimeter bears an inscription in Chinese characters at the top, reading “光緒年造” (Minted in the Guangxu Era). Surrounding the design, an English inscription denotes the issuing nation as “TAI-CHING-TI-KUO COPPER COIN” (Great Qing Empire Copper Coin).
The reverse of the coin features a bead circle enclosing the Chinese characters “Great Qing Copper Coin,” with a raised dot in the centre and the engraved abbreviation for Nanjing, “Ning,” within the dot. The outer edge is divided by the characters “Hu Bu.” The top edge is inscribed with the cyclical year “Ding-Wei” and the Manchu characters for “ᠸᡝᡳᠯᡝᡥᡝ ᠠᠨᡳᠶᠠᡳ ᡩᠣᠷᠣ ᡳ ᠪᠠᡩᠠᠷᠠᠩᡤᠠ”(Guangxu Year Minted). The bottom edge denotes the denomination with “Equivalent to Ten Cash.”
In the 32nd year of the Guangxu reign (AD 1906), the Ministry of Revenue, which managed the nation’s finances, discovered that the widespread minting of “Guangxu Yuanbao” coins by various provinces had caused a devaluation crisis. To address this, the Ministry intervened and revoked the minting rights of the provinces, ultimately retaining only six branch mints, including the Jiangning Mint in Nanjing. According to Ministry regulations, the moulds used by local mints were uniformly issued by the Ministry, with the province’s name engraved in the centre of the reverse side to facilitate central quality inspections.
In April of the 3rd year of the Xuantong reign (AD 1911), the government further promulgated the “Regulations on Currency System,” establishing a new system with the Great Qing silver coins as the standard and the Great Qing copper coins as subsidiary currency. However, the modernisation of the currency reform was halted by the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in the same year.