Many Faces of Cash

harasha

These cast coins have differences ranging from the subtle to the clear style change. Lord Marcovan provided me with the latest example, so I will lead off with that. These cash were cast during the reign of Zhe Zong. The Chinese emperors could choose different era names during their reign. These cash, more specfically, were issued during the Shao Sheng era, 1094 to 1098. Usually, the top and bottom characters are the name of the era. At the left is the character Bao, in the stylized shape of a treasure chest. At the right, roughly, is the amount of the denomination.
During this reign, however, the era name is read clockwise, on these cash.