Notes on 11th-13th century Chinese Cash coins Looking for types listed in Codrington as found in Lanka. Reference given to AUTHOR: Lockhart, James H. Stewart (James Haldane Stewart), Sir, 1858-1937. TITLE: The currency of the Farther East from the earliest times to 1895. PUBLISHER: Noronha, Hong Kong, 1907 NOTES: v. 1-3; 22 cm. Bibliography: p. [219]-223, v. 1. v. 1. A description of the Glover collection of Chinese, Annamese, Japanese, Corean coins, of coins used as amulets, and Chinese government and private notes. CFE Uses same numbering as 1895 edition available at Peabody, Baltimore, Plates vol-2 obtained via InterLibrary loan from Univ. of Rochester. Cross referenced to more common catalog available in Carnegie Libraray Currency of the far east Fredeik Schjoth - revised and edited by Virgil Hancock (1965) Krause publication 1 Calligraphy Styles = Ortho = Orthodox or clerkly Grass = Grass-character or running hand Seal = Seal Schjoth's introduction to Northern Sung coinage (page 27) says : "As regards the style of writing, the coins in the 'seal' writing come first, followed by those in the clerkly or orthodox writing, and ultimately finishing up with the 'running' hand, or 'grass-character' style of writing." By using "or" he is saying "clerkly" and "orthodox" are one script style, "running hand" and "grass-character" are a second. Seal script is the third style. A quick examination of the coins shows his statement of only three styles of calligraphy are correct. 1) "SEAL" - a very formal style of writing. Rounded characters with a fixed form and all details of each character included. The differences between coins are minor. There is no real Western equivalent, but type set block capital letters come closest. 2) "ORTHODOX" - also referred to as "clerkly". Angular characters with a generally square or rectangular appearance in which most details are made up of distinct either straight or slightly curved stokes. The general layout of a character is fixed, but small details can be left out. From coin to coin there can be significant differences. The closest Western equivalent is handwritten small-case printing. 3) "GRASS" - also referred to as "running hand". Flowing characters on which several details of a character can be represented by a single wavy or jagged line. A form of shorthand in which a character can show major differences from coin to coin. This is distinctly like Western handwriting (as opposed to hand printing). 2 Size S = Small M = Medium L = Large X = Extra Large At the standard in use since the T'ang, the Northern Sung monetary system was based on full weight bronze 1 cash averaging 3.5 grams, 2 cash averaging 7 grams cast sporadically after AD 1093, and on a few occasions, usually during times of war, bronze 3 and 10 cash fiduciary coins cast to the 2 and 3 cash standard. In addition to bronze coins, fiduciary iron coins were also cast through much of this period.