Coin with Inscription Chong Ning Tong Bao

This coin is round with a square hole. It conforms to the shape of Chinese coins that first developed in the early seventh century and continued well into the nineteenth. The four character inscription reads chong ning tong bao, roughly “circulating treasures of the Chongning era.” This is the name given to the period from 1102 to 1106 by Huizong (r. 1101–1125), the last emperor of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127).

Credit: Gift of James C. Y. Watt, 2013