Kiang-Nan province, literally ‘South of the Yangtse’, was one of China’s richest regions, and the mint located there (originally called the Nanking Mint) began striking the silver coins in the late 1890’s. They were not produced for long, just a few years, so command high prices on the collectors market.

In 1897, the Heaton Mint in Birmingham developed the original dies of a series of silver denominations for the Kiangnan Mint. The Obverse features the iconic image of a Chinese dragon coiled in a wide retrograde “S” shape with a fireball from his mouth, staring intensely out at the observer. The reverse features 4 Chinese and 4 Manchu characters, all reading as “Kuang Hsu Yuan Pao”, within a chain pattern of tiny capital “S” figures.

For the first time ever, a Chinese mint will laser etch the year, weight, mintage and purity on the rim of the coin.

Struck in 1911, the Reverse Dragon Pattern Dollar was made at a turning point in Chinese history. The Qing Dynasty, which had begun in 1644, was coming to a turbulent end — and with it, two millennia of imperial rule. A year after this coin was struck, the last emperor of China, the six-year-old Puyi, abdicated.

On the obverse, it features a regal and imposing Dragon suspended in mid-air amid wisps of clouds, a fiery pearl appears near the bottom of the design. The long wavy whiskers issuing from the Dragon’s nostrils appear like a curly moustache. Two vertical Chinese characters appear which signify the denomination (One Yuan) and in English, along the periphery, the English legend states “ONE DOLLAR”.

On the reverse, it contains an all Chinese legend. Between the outer crenulated border and the inner pearled ring, the Manchu and Chinese characters form the outer legend. Four Manchu characters appear above and four Chinese characters below which state, “Hsuen Tung, 3rd Year” (1911), and these sets of characters are separated by ornate floral sprays. The central Chinese inscription states, “Ta Ch’ing Yin Pi”, meaning “Great Ch’ing (dynasty) Silver Coin”.

Coin’s observe: Depicts a Dragon and Phoenix with the national emblem of the Twelve Symbols, also with the inscription in Chinese characters “Created in the 12th Year of the Republic of China.”

Coin’s reverse: Display the image of the Wreath of Grain, inside which is the denomination in Chinese as “One Dollar.”

Coin’s Obverse: Depicts a new-style dragon with long whiskers and the denomination “ONE DOLLAR” shows in small English characters.

Coin’s Reverse: Displays Four Manchu characters at the middle and also with flowers pattern at sides and date (The 3rd year of Hsuen Tung) below, in the center are four Hanzi characters “Silver Coin of the great Qing Dynasty”.

The China Pattern Tael Struck in Silver was issued by the Hu Poo (Board of Revenue) during the reign of Kuang Hsu, Year 29 (1903). Although struck at the Tientsin Mint, the original dies were ordered from and prepared by the Osaka Mint in Japan under the supervision of Robert Hart, Inspector General of Maritime Customs. The initial goal was an early attempt to unify Chinese coinage on the gold standard, producing denominations in 1 Tael, 5, 2, 1 and 1/2 Mace.

The project never went into full production for several reasons. One being that the outlined plan called for one central mint to be responsible for coinage production to insure the uniformity of the new coinage, which the directors of the provincial mints heavily resisted due to potential profit cuts.

This iconic design was a Dragon Pattern Dollar from the final period of the Chinese Empire and the Qing (Ch’ing) Dynasty. The Central Mint in Tientsin – operated by the Board of Revenue in Peking – minted a multitude of coinage types in the later portion of the Empire, in an attempt to unify the currency system of China. Unfortunately, China’s administrative disorganization inhibited the reforms from gaining traction and thus many of the designs including this one never made it to the light of being in circulation.

The obverse design features a fearsome Asian serpentine Dragon flying over a depiction of the sea. The fiery pearl and cloud wisps invoke the powerful nature of the creature and the design has been given the nickname of 水龙 (shui long or translated in English water dragon). The upper legend states: “Made during the reign of Hsuen Tung” with seven-pointed rosettes and floral bursts found in the outer design, with the denomination of “$1” found at six o’clock.

The reverse features four Manchu characters, floral bursts at three and nine o’clock, with two Chinese characters stating “1 Yuan.” The four central characters denote: “Great Ch’ing (Dynasty) Silver Coin.”

This iconic design originates from the Hu Peh Province located in East Central China. The mint was active from the early Manchu dynasty and adapted for modern coin mintage in 1895. Specimens of the original have been known to sell upwards of $100,000USD at auctions!

The dollar was among the first milled coinage produced in Imperial China at the Kwangtung Mint. Its output was intended to replace the Spanish and Mexican 8 reales circulating in the country. To this end, these coins were at a slightly higher silver content than the foreign interlopers. Unfortunately Gresham’s Law kicked-in and the new heavier dollars were promptly hoarded or melted-down.

Despite the failure of these dollars to achieve their desired end, their design provided the standard for issues from all Chinese provinces during 1890-1907.