Chihli (1888) cash
This specimen was lot 1415 in Steve Album Auction 52 (Santa Rosa, CA, May 2025), where it sold for $450. The catalog description[1] noted, "QING: Guang Xu, 1875-1908, AE cash, Tianjin mint, Zhili Province, machine-struck issue in 1888, variety where bottom of bao is open, large characters on reverse, XF, ex Daniel K. E. King Sale, 2 June 1991, Lot 701, with original auction ticket and collector's tag. The mint at Tianjin purchased modern western machinery to strike coins from Greenwood and Batley in England. When mint officials at the Bao Jin Mint in Tianjin calculated that each machine-struck cash cost more than 2 cash to produce, striking of single square-holed cash was suspended."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 1.64 g, brass, this specimen 4.01 g.
Catalog reference: Hartill-22.1147.
- Hartill, David, Cast Chinese Coins, 2nd ed., London, 2017.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Dustin Wagner, Auction 52, featuring the Dr. Robert A. Rosenfeld Collection and the Almer H. Orr III Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2025.
Link to: