YUAN: Toghon Temür, 1333-1368, AE temple cash (25.11g), cf. Zeno-124767, 41.5mm, mù qing tóng bao ("Muqing Copper Treasure"), blank reverse, VF, RR. The name Muqing refers to Muqing Palace in the summer capital Shangdu (in todays Inner Mongolia). The History of Yuan records that the palace was rebuilt in the 13th year of his reign (1353) but burned down in the 18th year (1358). It is thus likely that this coin was cast within that short period. The smaller version of this type with "zhi zheng" on reverse was cast in small quantities as temple offerings during the reign of this last Yuan emperor, Toghon Temür. This type was perhaps cast for larger donations to the temple. "Gong Yang Qian" variously translated as "temple coins" or "offering coins", were a type of alternative currency that resembled Chinese cash coins that circulated during the Mongol Yuan dynasty period. The Yuan dynasty emperors (or khagans) were supports of Buddhism, which meant that the Buddhist temples tended to receive official government support. During this period the larger Buddhist temples in China were able to cast bronze Buddha statues and make other religious artifacts which also meant that it was easy for them to also cast these special kind of cash coins which could then be used by faithful adherents of Buddhism as offerings to Buddha. In general, these temple coins tend to be much smaller and crudely made compared to earlier and later Chinese cash coins. However, because these temple coins, due to their copper content, still had intrinsic value, they would sometimes serve as an alternative currency in China.
