Volume 5 ~ Kosen Daizen … Yuan You to Chong Ning

Kosen Daizen
Northern Song Dynasty Cash Variety Guide, Volume 5

Translated into English, with parallel Chinese (Pinyin Romanisation), and provided with a variety numbering system.
by Norman F. Gorny

Volume 5 of Northern Song Dynasty Cash Variety Guide is a re-presentation in English of the varieties of Northern Song cash from Yuan You to Chong Ning found in volume 3 of KOSEN DAIZEN by Imai Teikichi (1888). This monumental work on Chinese cash by a formidable Japanese scholar builds upon numismatic research done two generations earlier by Yamada Kosho and published in FUGO SENSHI (two volumes, 1827-1829).

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Volume 5, Kosen Daizen, Yuan You to Chong Ning, published in large easy-to-read 8-1/2 x 11" (21 x 28cm) format, 40 pages, stapled binding.
Price (USD): $8 each, plus postage (USA, $1.50 media; Canada, $2.00 air mail; Other Countries, $4.50 air mail).
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Excerpted from the
Introduction to Volume 5

This fifth volume completes the coverage of the Yuan You reign with the value-2 large cash and the value-3 iron cash issued in that era, thereafter continuing with Shao Sheng and Yuan Fu, the last two reign titles of emperor Zhe Zong. All the coins of this emperor were issued as ‘dui qian’ matching cash in seal script and cursive styles.

Mixed script styles on the cursive Shao Sheng Yuan Bao of emperor Zhe Zong recall a similar feature on the orthodox Huang Song Tong Bao of emperor Ren Zong (see Volume 3, page 10). Again, we will find mixed script styles on the cursive Sheng Song Yuan Bao of emperor Hui Zong. The character common to both of the later reign titles under discussion is SHENG. For some reason, this character does not appear in anything like true cursive on either type, except on variety 02 of Shao Sheng Yuan Bao. The characters YUAN and BAO assume a cursive form on all the cursive coins of both reigns, but SHAO ranges from cursive to "running" orthodox on the former, and SONG appears in standard orthodox on three or four varieties of the latter.

With Sheng Song Yuan Bao, the production of matching cash in seal and cursive style that was inaugurated by emperor Shen Zong comes to an end after about 24 years. The artist and calligrapher emperor Hui Zong introduced Chong Ning Tong Bao in a.d. 1102, which was written in one script style only, that of his personal invention, and named by him "slender gold style." This elegant script is a refined form of orthodox, and its beauty has not been surpassed even in modern times. After Chong Ning Tong Bao, this style was again used on Da Guan Tong Bao. It left its mark on subsequent coinage, especially Da Ding Tong Bao of the Jin dynasty. This Manchurian dynasty overran northern China a few years after emperor Hui Zong was himself captured by their armies and carried off into captivity. Their coinage was probably issued from the same mints as the Northern Song, and it is therefore not surprising if emperor Hui Zong’s excellent calligraphy was passed down to them.

In this fifth volume we will study the cash coinage of the late eleventh century and the first six years of the twelfth, noticing how the glory days of Northern Song were beginning to draw to a close, even amidst the beauty produced by and surrounding the last great emperor.