Four Chinese characters (regular script) Chun Xi Yuan Bao / Chun-12 (for "Qichun, period year 12 = 1185). 28mm, 5.57 grams. Cast 1185. Hartill 17.294.

From an old shipwreck in Indonesia.

The Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) was established after the Song lost northern China to the Jurchen Jin dynasty and transferred its capital south to Lin’an (modern Hangzhou). Despite its reduced territory, the period was marked by remarkable commercial prosperity, maritime trade, technological development, and cultural achievement. After decades of conflict with the Jin and later the Mongols, the dynasty was finally conquered by Kublai Khan’s Yuan dynasty in 1279.

This coin is unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic.