[Zhejiang Provincial Museum] Southern Song Dynasty Rectangular Coins

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, due to inflation, the government cast a huge amount of Lin’an (old Hangzhou) rectangular coins. Now, there still exist many rectangular bronze coins with values of 200 wen, 300 wen, and 500 wen, and several small-denomination rectangular lead coins. The front of these coins features the Chinese characters of “临安府专用” (literal meaning: Specially for the Use of Lin'an Prefecture), and the back features the Chinese characters of “准伍佰文” (500 wen sharp), with a perforation on it.