File:3 different Asian cash coins.jpg

English: The first cash coin is a zinc machine-struck 六百分之一通寶 from the Protectorate of Tonkin (Northern-Viet Nam), French Indo-China, the second cash coin is a brass cast 常平通寶 from the Kingdom of Great-Joseon (Korea), and the third cash coin is an ellipse-shaped bronze 天保通寳 from the Tokugawa Shogunate (Japan).

This photograph illustrates the variety of Asian cash coins, all these coins are fundamentally different in a plethora of ways, while the first cash coin is milled the others are cast, while the first two cash coins are round the third is ellipse-shaped, all three (3) coins are made from different metals or alloys, and they’re all different denominations and from different countries. Asian cash coins have square holes so they can easily be transported in strings.
These coins also all showcase the economic policies of their respective manufacturers’ government, machine-struck cash coins were made by the French in an effort to control the rural economy of Annam, while the French government issued zinc cash coins in low denominations fixed to an exchange of 600 Tonkinese 六百分之一通寶 cash coins for a single French Indo-Chinese Piastre, this was done for both social and economic reasons, the coin was made from zinc because the Annamese people tended to bury their coins because of superstitions while it was also economically beneficial for the French to produce cheap coinage with high nominal values. This coin wasn't well received by either the Annamese or the French people.
The Korean 常平通寶 was made from brass with high numbers of zinc (which explains its gold-like colour) because brass coins had lower concentrations of copper thus were cheaper to produce. Generally speaking 常平通寶 cash coins are very diverse with there being over an estimated 5.000 (five-thousand) variants, these differ not only in denominations and mint marks, but also in size and in the variation of their metallic alloys.
The Japanese 天保通寳 was officially worth 100 (one-hundred) mon, but often circulated for less than that because of its relatively low intrinsic value.

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