I picked this so-called Chinese "junk dollar" up at a coin show a while back. Technically, it is not a "junk dollar" because the face value is actually 5 "dollars", or yuan. Although there is no listing for a 1932 5-dollar/yuan coin of this type, Yeoman's Modern World Coins states that several patterns of different denominations exist for Yeoman #27, which does not have birds above the junk. So, is this coin a pattern, or is it just a junky old fake fantasy piece?
It's a not-so-old fake fantasy piece because only the "one yuan" (one dollar) version of this "1932" coin is authentic. The Chinese actually refer to the real coin (i.e. one yuan) as the "three bird coin" and not a "junk dollar" because of the three birds shown flying above the boat. There is an interesting story associated with this coin. The coin was to be the official national currency of China. However, it was considered to be "inappropriate" because of certain design elements on the reverse side. Many Chinese felt that the "rising sun" to the right of the boat symbolized "Japan" and that the three flying birds above the junk symbolized the Japanese air force. You must remember that the "Manchurian Incident" ("Mukden Incident"), which Japan used as a pretext to invade China's northern part (Manchuria), occurred in 1931. For this reason, the 1933 version of the "junk dollar" eliminated the "rising sun" and the "flying birds". Gary
