One of the world’s favourite bullion coins, the Chinese Panda has been growing in popularity for many years, and as mintages have risen, more attention is being paid to the various specials put out to commemorate one-off events, usually in the Chinese financial sector. This new Panda coin is issued to celebrate the Bank of Beijing being in operation for twenty years. In the big scheme of things it seems a fairly innocuous event to warrant a special gold and silver commemorative Panda, but as it means we get a new commemorative gold and silver Panda coin, who cares…
It’s a typical Panda coin, this one depicting a solitary animal on a tree branch, and is identical to the new 2016 bullion coin except that the main artwork is shrunk and a border carrying an English inscription of the commemoration is incorporated into the design. The obverse remains identical to the main bullion coin. Two versions of this coin are available, and both follow the new weight system recently launched with the 2016 Panda. The fine silver coin weighs 30g and is limited to 50,000 units, the fine gold coin weighs 8g and is limited to 35,000. Both mintages seem quite high for the subject, but they sell well and only a small proportion of these leave China, so prices remain pretty firm.
MINTS DESCRIPTION
A pair of gold and silver commemorative coins from Shenzhen Guobao Mint Co., Ltd. casting, China Gold Coin Corporation, and are legal tender in the People’s Republic of China.
REVERSE: Panda climbing tree, and the inscriptions “30g Ag.999” or “8g Au.999” , “20th anniversary of Bank of Beijing” in English and the denominations.
OBVERSE: Beijing Temple of Heaven, and inscribed the country name, reign and “Bank of Beijing to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of” in Chinese.
BANK OF BEIJING
The Bank of Beijing is a bank based in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Founded on January 8, 1996 as Beijing City Commercial Bank (sometimes referred to as Beijing Commercial Bank), it adopted its present name in January 2005.
The largest shareholders of the bank include Government of the City of Beijing and ING from the Netherlands. The Bank operates its businesses primarily in its domestic market.
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I hope to be able to grab a few of the silver ones, thanks for the heads up!
It is expansive