Western Xia coinage

The Western Xia was a Tangut-led Chinese dynasty which ruled over what are now the northwestern Chinese subdivisions of Ningxia, Gansu, eastern Qinghai, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, southwest Inner Mongolia, and southernmost Outer Mongolia from 1032 until 1227 when they were destroyed by the Mongols. The country was established by the Tangut people;^[1][2] likewise its earliest coins were escribed with Tangut characters, while later they would be written in Chinese. Opposed to Song dynasty coins that often read top-bottom-right-left, Western Xia coins exclusively read clockwise. Despite the fact that coins had been cast for over a century and a half, very little were actually produced and coins from Western Xia are a rarity today.^[3] Although the Western Xia cast their own coins barter remained widely used.^[4]

Originally from 1053 until 1068 the inscription of its cash coins were exclusively written in the Tangut script, and between 1068 and 1206 coins were cast with both Tangut and Chinese inscriptions, but after 1206 only Chinese characters were used. Compared to Liao dynasty coinage, coins from Western Xia were cast in superior quality, though only bronze and iron coins produced between 1149 and 1193 were cast in high quantities.^[5] The calligraphy of Western Xia period cash coins are typically regarded as being of fine quality.^[6]

After Western Xia was annexed by the Mongols, Tangut inscriptions appeared only on a single Yuan dynasty coin.^[7]