kwang-tung ten cash

[chris421649]

I aquired a kwang tung 10 cash and a an-hwei 10 cash this weekend along with some other coins. I first thought they were gaming tokens but have since found out they are not. My question is if the denomination is Cash is this where we get the slang for money.

[ScottO]

possibly, as the chinese used the cash for thousands of years

[sturzny]

The English word 'cash' derives from the French 'casse', which refers to a box or chest which was commonly used to store coins. The Chinese used square-holed coins we call 'cash' for thousands of years but they didn't call them that. The Chinese word for the simple square-holed coin was 'wen', 10 wen (or 10 cash) was 1 'fen' or 'cent', 10 cents was 1 'jiao', and 10 jiao was 1 'yuan' (dollar). The Chinese also had an old system of weights based on a 'tael' (approx. 36 grams), a 'mace' (1/10 of a tael), and a 'candareen' (1/10 of a mace). Chinese silver coins of the late Qing dynasty were denominated according to the tael system, so the silver dollars (about the same weight as a US silver dollar) had an English legend '7 mace and 2 candareens', the 50 cent pieces '3 mace and 6 candareens', etc. Some regions (such as Xinjiang) continued to use the tael system well into the 20th century and after the revolution that deposed the Qing dynasty.

[chris421649]

Sturzny, Thanks for the information, Both of these are either copper or bronze, about the size of a UK Twopence piece, but with no hole. Are they later issues from different regions.

[sturzny]

Towards the end of the 19th century the Qing dynasty decided to adopt a more Western style of coinage, machine-struck instead of cast as were the old holed cash coins. They produced copper and brass coins in a variety of sizes and denominations, but by far the most common were the 10 cash and 20 cash (equivalent to one cent and two cents). Generally one side of the coin had a Chinese inscription honoring the Emperor (Kuang Hsu) and also giving the denomination in Chinese and the province where minted, and the other side featured a dragon in various styles along with English legends, also giving the name of the province and denomination. For a few years there was considerable variation in styles across the various provinces, although the basic pattern was usually followed. In 1905-06, the Empire mandated a standard style for the copper coins because the number of varieties was out of control, and so-called "private mints" run by warlords were producing their own coins to pay the troops. The standard style has an English legend on the dragon side "TAI-CH`ING-TI-KUO COPPER COIN". Even within this standard the provincial mints engraved the dragon and the surrounding devices differently, so there were still many varieties. In this style the name of the province does not appear in English, so I assume the coins you have are from the older style.

[chris421649]

Towards the end of the 19th century the Qing dynasty decided to adopt a more Western style of coinage, machine-struck instead of cast as were the old holed cash coins. They produced copper and brass coins in a variety of sizes and denominations, but by far the most common were the 10 cash and 20 cash (equivalent to one cent and two cents). Generally one side of the coin had a Chinese inscription honoring the Emperor (Kuang Hsu) and also giving the denomination in Chinese and the province where minted, and the other side featured a dragon in various styles along with English legends, also giving the name of the province and denomination. For a few years there was considerable variation in styles across the various provinces, although the basic pattern was usually followed. In 1905-06, the Empire mandated a standard style for the copper coins because the number of varieties was out of control, and so-called "private mints" run by warlords were producing their own coins to pay the troops. The standard style has an English legend on the dragon side "TAI-CH`ING-TI-KUO COPPER COIN". Even within this standard the provincial mints engraved the dragon and the surrounding devices differently, so there were still many varieties. In this style the name of the province does not appear in English, so I assume the coins you have are from the older style.

Thanks for the information

[ccg]

Although the "cent" (10 cash) coins were nominally 10 cash, that was not always so. Also, their relation to the silver coins also varied - bronze/brass coins traditionally in China was traded based on their melt value, so exchange ratios would change as the value of bronze, brass, and silver rose and fell.