String of cash coins (currency unit)
A string of cash coins refers to a historical Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ryukyuan, and Vietnamese currency unit that was used as a superunit of the Chinese cash, Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn currencies. The square hole in the middle of cash coins served to allow for them to be strung together in strings. The term would later also be used on banknotes and served there as a superunit of wén (文).
A Sichuanese man carrying 13,500 cash coins.
A banknote from the Republic of China of 1 chuàn wén (串文, or a string of cash coins) issued by the Da Sheng Chang in the year 1919.
A Hansatsu local banknote of 1 kanmon (貫文) issued during the Edo period in Japan from the British Museum.
William Sachtleben (right) with a Russian friend with enough strings of cash coins to pay for a meal at a restaurant in Ghulja in 1892.
The mon was the currency of Japan from the Muromachi period in 1336 until the early Meiji period in 1870. It co-circulated with the new sen until 1891. Throughout Japanese history, there were many styles of currency of many shapes, styles, designs, sizes and materials, including gold, silver, bronze, etc. The kanji for mon (文) also shares its name with Chinese wén, Korean mun, Vietnamese văn.
Kan'ei Tsūhō (寛永通宝) coins. The top coins were each worth 4 mon; the middle and bottom coins were worth 1 mon each.
Bunkyū ēhō (文久永宝). Branched ("Edasen" 枝銭) Mon coins of the Bunkyū period. This shows the foundry technique to make the coins: the coins would then be clipped and filed to obtain the final round shape.
An Eiraku Tsūhō (永樂通寳) coin, one of the most commonly circulating coins of the era before the Edo period.
A Hōei Tsūhō (寳永通寳) coin, these were unsuccessfully introduced as a large denomination 10 mon coin in 1708, but failed because of their debased copper content.