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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Parthicus, post: 3972532, member: 81887&quot;]Here&#039;s a coin that I purchased from a world coin dealer&#039;s junk box for $2 at the Baltimore show in November:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1045363[/ATTACH] </p><p>China, Northern Song. Emperor Ren Zong (1022-1063), Jia You period (1056-1063).&nbsp; AE cash.&nbsp; Obverse: Inscription in standard script Jia You Tong Bao (Praised Protection Current Coin).&nbsp; Reverse: Blank.&nbsp; References: Hartill 16.154, Schjoth 517.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Song Dynasty (960-1279) was a time of high culture in China, and is sometimes called the &quot;Chinese Renaissance&quot;.&nbsp; The period is usually divided into two parts, the Northern Song (960-1127) and the Southern Song (1127-1279).&nbsp; After losing the northern part of their territories to the Jin dynasty in 1127, the Song retreated to the south and re-established their dynasty in a new capital.&nbsp; This map shows the Song at their greatest extent in 1111:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1045370[/ATTACH] </p><p>(Map via Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license)</p><p><br /></p><p>The Song period was a time when Confucian scholarship was revived, and art and literature flourished.&nbsp; Emperors generally tried to deal with their neighboring states with diplomacy or the offering of tribute rather than warfare. The economy flourished, and enormous numbers of coins were issued, as well as paper money.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Renzong was born in 1010, the son of Emperor Zhenzong.&nbsp; When Zhenzong died in 1022, Renzong took the throne, with his stepmother Liu as regent.&nbsp; However, she refused to step down when Renzong came of age in 1027, and continued as co-ruler until her own death in 1033.&nbsp; Renzong&#039;s reign of 41 years was the longest of the Song dynasty.&nbsp; He followed the usual Song pattern of avoiding military confrontations with his neighbors, and sent large bribes to the Liao in exchange for peace.&nbsp; To pay for these bribes, he heavily taxed the peasants, which eventually led to a series of peasant rebellions.&nbsp; Despite this apparent indifference to the plight of his poorer subjects, he was reportedly a merciful, modest, and frugal man.&nbsp; He ordered that government officers should be cautious in administering the death penalty, and said that any official who even once sentenced an innocent man to death would never again be promoted. All of Renzong&#039;s sons died in childhood, leaving him without a legitimate heir; before his death, he had two young relatives brought to the palace and trained, one of whom (a son of Renzong&#039;s first cousin) was chosen as the next emperor upon Renzong&#039;s death in 1063.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1045398[/ATTACH] </p><p>(Portrait of Renzong; public domain, via Wikipedia)</p><p><br /></p><p>Chinese emperors, much like the current Japanese emperors, did not put their names on their coinage.&nbsp; Rather, they used reign titles (nien ho), or two-word slogans that described how the emperor wanted that period to be remembered.&nbsp; To borrow an example from Frank S. Robinson, if Franklin D. Roosevelt had been a Chinese emperor, he would have used the reign title &quot;New Deal.&quot;&nbsp; The last Chinese dynasty (Qing), and the current Japanese monarchy, used one reign title to cover the emperor&#039;s entire reign.&nbsp; The Song, however, often changed the reign title several times in one emperor&#039;s life, resulting in a huge number of coin varieties with different legends.&nbsp; This coin is from the Jia You (Praised Protection) period, the last reign title of Renzong&#039;s life, which was used from 1056 to 1063.&nbsp; Other reign titles used by Renzong (he had a total of 9 over his 41 year rule) include Heavenly Saint, Revered Protection, Extreme Peace, and (my favorite) Celebrated Calendar.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I found this coin in a dealer&#039;s junk box of mainly 19th and 20th century world coins at the Baltimore coin show in November.&nbsp; This coin, over 900 years old, in decent condition with fully readable inscription, was just $2.&nbsp; This makes sense, when you consider the enormous amounts of coinage issued during the Song period, but it is still pretty amazing when you pause to think about it.&nbsp; Please post your Chinese coins, or other coins that cost surprisingly little given their historical interest.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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