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Southern Song Dynasty
Great Song Yuanbao
(Downward Three)
南宋
大宋元寶
(背下三)
Item number: A1104
Year: AD 1227
Material: Bronze
Size: 21.0~26.6 x 27.1 x 1.8 mm
Weight: 5.4 g
Provenance:
1. Noonans 2022
2. D. L. F. Sealy Collection
This is a bronze coin minted during the early reign of the fifth emperor, Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty, in the Baoqing era (AD 1225 to AD 1227). The coin bears the inscription “Great Song Yuanbao,”reflecting the state name “Great Song.” Emperor Lizong, Zhao Yun, used a total of eight era names throughout his forty-year reign.
The coin is of the typical square-holed design, though the upper side has a damaged corner. On the obverse side, the four Chinese characters “Great Song Yuanbao” are engraved in regular script, arranged in a clockwise direction. “Great Song” represents the state name of the Song Dynasty. The reverse side is covered with some green patina, and at the bottom, there is a blurred “Three” year mark, indicating that the coin was minted in the 3rd year of the Baoqing era (AD 1227).
During the reign of Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty, he successfully allied with the Mongols to jointly defeat and destroy the Jin Dynasty in the 1st year of the Duanping era (AD 1234). However, in the aftermath, the Southern Song was left to face the continued Mongol invasions alone. After Kublai Khan eventually conquered the Southern Song, his Tibetan monk subordinate, Yang Lianzhenjia, desecrated Emperor Lizong’s tomb, Yongmu Mausoleum, and took his skull to create a Kapala bowl, a ritual object in Tibetan Buddhism.
It was not until the founding of the Ming Dynasty by Zhu Yuanzhang, who expelled the Mongols, that Emperor Lizong’s skull was reburied with imperial honours in Nanjing. Later, it was relocated to its original resting place at Yongmu Mausoleum in Lin’an.
During the Song Dynasty, in addition to bronze coins, one notable feature was the widespread circulation of iron coins, a phenomenon rarely seen in other dynasties. This practise arose primarily for two reasons: first, the domestic shortage of copper resources; and second, the need to prevent copper coins from flowing into the hands of northern rival states, such as the Western Xia, Liao, and Jin. As a result, the Song court initially began minting iron coins, and later introduced early forms of paper money, such as Jiaozi and Huizi, as alternative currency.