CHINA 10 cash 1102-06 AD CHONG NING ZHONG BAO nail mark reverse

Description

Chong Ning was the third year title of the Emperor Huizong.

Huizong was the eighth Song Emperor. He like luxury and art and was thought to be a fine calligrapher and painter. The Jurchens (Jin dynasty) invaded and captured the capital. The Emperor abdicated, but his son was most reluctant. The son finally accepted the throne. A few decades later the Jin returned, captured both the abdicated and the then current Emperors and took them home to the Jin capital, where Huizong died.

The Song Dynasty was established by a rebel general who overcame his Later Zhou employer and went on to conquer the rest of the country. Military reforms produced two centuries of stability, but administrative costs reduced efficiency, and lack of preparedness invited invasion by the Jin from the north, while the Song moved their capital to the south.

The oldest Chinese coins are at least as old as the earliest Greek coins. The Chinese coinage system differed from other systems in two ways. It was monometallic, only bronze coins circulated in general commerce. Gold and silver were treated as commodities. And the manufacturing method was by casting in moulds rather than by striking heated solid planchets. The main reference I use in attributing and describing these coins is the book: Chinese Cast Coins, by David Hartill.