Volume 7 ~ Kosen Daizen … Xuan He to Jing Kang … Also: Early Southern Song, Western Xia and Jin Dynasties

Kosen Daizen
Northern Song Dynasty Cash Variety Guide, Volume 7

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

Volume 7 of Northern Song Dynasty Cash Variety Guide is a re-presentation in English of the varieties of Northern Song cash from Xuan He to Jing Kang 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).

CURRENTLY Out-of-Print! DO NOT ORDER!

Volume 7, Kosen Daizen, Xuan He to Jing Kang, 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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Volumes 2-7 complete Kosen Daizen, price $48 postpaid (media) U.S.A.
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Excerpted from the
Introduction to Volume 7

As Volume 6 ended with the scarce Yuan Bao currency of Xuan He, the current volume begins with the common Tong Bao currency of the same reign, both the value-1 and the multiple cash values. Unfortunately, Kosen Daizen is rather weak in its coverage of iron coinage generally, and for the Xuan He reign, only the common S666 value-1 with reverse mintmark is listed.

With the Jing Kang coinage we come to the end of the varieties of Northern Song dynasty cash. This rare reign title is sometimes available in the value-2 cash size, but the small value-1 are seldom encountered. Kosen Daizen illustrates and lists all three coin types for this last series: Tong Bao, Yuan Bao, and a sole example of Zhong Bao.

Successors of the Northern Song Dynasty
When the Northern Song dynasty was extinguished by the Jin dynasty of the Nuzhen people in 1127, the court fled to the south and established what is now called the Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279). Volume 3 of Kosen Daizen, in addition to covering the currency of this southern dynasty, includes the coinage of the Western Xia and Jin dynasties, as well as other regimes of China’s minority nationalities which arose at that period.

Coins of the first two reigns of the Southern Song dynasty are usually found mixed into bulk lots of Northern Song large cash. Coins of the Western Xia and Jin dynasties are also found in strings of Northern Song cash. For this reason, the final volume of this catalog includes Kosen Daizen’s coverage of the Southern Song dynasty up until the 7th year of the Chun Xi reign (the first year-dated issue), and the value-1 cash of the Western Xia and Jin dynasties.