Won this in an auction: Just what is this coin? There is a period of time (1906-1909) when a single character is used to denote the origin of where the coin is struck or intented to circulate. While most of the coins were easy to find, some were a bit tougher for instance these: Jilin (Kirin) Qingjiang (Tsingkiang) Jiangxi (Kiangsi) Yunnan The rest of my Chinese coins can be seen here: http://www.gxseries.com/numis/china/china_province.htm So why is the first coin rare? It's just a difference of one character. This coin is actually struck or circulated in the Yunnan-Szechuan Province. Note, this is very unusual because while Yunnan and Szechuan were seperate provinces, this denotes BOTH provinces. This coin alone is worth more than the rest of the single character copper coins put together - it's that scarce. Maybe you might be able to find a similar one in your dealer's junk coin box?
As best I can tell from several Chinese resources, this is not a rare or even scarce coin. The "Concise Chinese Coin Dictionary" (简明钱币辞典) ranks this coin as a "13" on a rarity scale with "1" being the rarest and "15" the most common. The "Chinese Copper Coin Catalog" (中国铜元谱) ranks it as an "8" on a rarity scale with "1" being the rarest and "10" the most common. The Krause "2008 Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000" (China page 459) has the coin priced at $20 in VG condition. Finally, an auction on Yahoo (Hong Kong) which concluded a few days ago had one of these coins for sale for about US $11.00 (HK$85.00). Perhaps the coin is worth a premium in the very best condition but the coin itself does not seem to be rare at all. I am not a collector of these particular Chinese coins and am only trying to expand my knowledge of Chinese numismatics. If the coin is truly rare then I would very much appreciate learning more about it. Gary
I would consider it a relative rarity to the obtainer because these and other Imperial Chinese coins are disappearing quickly into the hands of the new Indian and East Asian collectors. At the same time the prices are going up. No less than 7 dealers here in LA have told me that these new collectors buy nearly all the Imperial Chinese coins in one swoop along with their foreign bins searching for these coins. Many are visitors who ship these via UPS or Fed Ex back home. I'm not sure why and it is of course only anecdotal evidence on my part, but it seems to happen here in the LA area a lot. So I would say it is not rare by catalogue standards, but in the current market it just might be if not enough of these are circulating in the trade market. Just my 2 cash (cents). :foot-mouth:
manymore: your catalog is outdated as Chinese coins prices have shot up since the last two years. It would be inappropriate to use reference that old. I would have bought pretty much everything at Krause's 2008 price and make instant profit. Prices have shot up at least 2-3 times. I would have bought that coin from HK auction at that price immediately. I'm 100% sure it's worth more than that. Again, if you think it's commmon, please let me know. I've only seen it popping online perhaps once a month or two. Here's one that was sold online recently: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAP...sRjb3oxzmmxGC2JR84AXE%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
Krause 2008 or 2012 is not the ultimate authority for prices, its just a reference. I`ve been waiting for a certain banknote to appear on eBay for half a year, thought there will be plenty of bids because its rare in general, not just on eBay. Won it for 2.7 euro, hardly 2 more bidders except me, quite surprising. (I know nothing about Chinese coins, just saying that if Krause lists some coin for $100 in VF, it doesn't mean you cant get it for $15 in XF)
The above comments from other forum members have missed the point. I simply stated that according to the standard reference books for this type of Chinese copper coin, the Yunnan-Szechuan Province coin is not considered "rare". The discussion did not have anything to do with prices or that prices have increased over the last several years. We do not even know how much gxseries paid for his coin. Prices have increased but that has not affected the "rarity" of the coin. There are still the same number of these coins as there were a few years ago. The two Chinese reference books I quoted are considered the standard references used by millions of coin collectors in China. The authors are recognized as authorities in the field and they are the ones who rank this particular coin near the bottom of the rarity scale. That does not mean that the coin may not be as common as the most common varieties of these copper coins but that the coin is in no way rare or difficult to find. I only referenced the Krause publication because it is online (courtesy of Google Books) and can be viewed by anyone by simply clicking the link. Even though it is the 2008 edition, the price of $20, whether it was accurate or not at the time, is not an indication of a "rare" coin. (Incidentally, I do not own or use any Krause publications. All my references are Chinese.) As further evidence that the coin is not rare, I referenced an auction on a major Chinese auction site (Yahoo! in Hong Kong) that would have been viewed by a very large number of Chinese coin collectors. The auction concluded on April 11th, just a few days ago. The price of the coin was US$11.00 which is an indication of the current pricing for the coin. Does that sound like the price of a "rare" coin? I just went online to see what other specimens of this coin have sold for. This website sold the Yunnan-Szechuan coin and three other coins as a lot about one year ago. The lot of four coins sold for a total of US$66.50 (420 yuan). That is about US$16.63 per coin. Does that sound like the price of a "rare" coin? Gxseries references an auction where a very nice specimen of the coin sold for US$255.00. Whether or not this was a fair price for a coin in that grade I would not know. Perhaps there was a "bidding war" but my discussion has to do with the rarity of the coin and not the pricing. I even stated in my original post: (Just as a personal note, I would be a little wary of that particular dealer. He states that the coin is "rare" which it clearly is not. He also includes the Chinese text 网上可看到银币图片 which translates as "you may view pictures of the silver coin on the internet". Of course, the coin is not silver but copper. He also states that the coin is silver under "Item specifics". I do not know if he is trying to deceive people, if he is just careless, incompetent or what.) In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that I am not knowledgeable concerning these "tong yuan" coins. However, the major reference books used by millions of Chinese coin collectors do not consider the coin to be rare and the coin can be purchased in circulated condition for less than US$20.00. Gary
