For some time now I have been interested in Chinese coins. There is one milled coin denomination that appears to me to be unobtainable, despite it apparently being common. I am referring, of course, to the Dollar. It makes sense that special issues and certain provincial dollars are expensive, but there are some that were issued nationally in extremely large numbers. There are three basic types I believe fit this criteria: the 1911 Dragon Dollar, the 1914 Fatman Dollar, and the 1927 Republic Dollar. Maybe I’ll include the 1933-34 Dollar for completeness. I haven’t really found any for sale, and when I have they are rather high grade and expensive. Is demand for them that high? To use an analogy, are they like Morgan dollars where the nice ones sell at auction and the lesser ones are found at every shop in China? Am I not approaching this in the right way? This was just something I have been thinking about and figured I’d ask. Here is my humble 1 Jiao.
I used to collect Chinese dollars many years ago, but stopped due to climbing prices even then (1980s - 1990's) for the scarce to rare coins. I wish I could provide you with the enigmatic rise in Fat Man dollar prices, given the absolutely astronomical mintage figures for this coin, a coin that was re-struck in massive quantities, with an estimated total mintage of 750,000,000 (Krause) over the span of several decades. Not only was this coin minted in large numbers, it, and other Chinese dollars are faked, most pretty badly, some better quality. The Chinese coins that I purchased came from knowledgeable, trusted sources, such as Rick Ponterio, Al Tom, Karl Stephens and Scott Seamens. Here's a Chinese Soviet dollar (1934) that I purchased from Al Tom back in the early 1980's. 26.0 grams As for the current market, I would only purchase Chinese dollars from trustworthy sources, a good general policy and even more so with a field having so many. fakes. I would avoid buying Chinese dollars on eBay and certainly any coins being offered from China. Caveat Emptor.
I would love to buy some Chinese silver dollars but the prices are ridiculous. I think there are two reasons for this, First the market is flooded with fakes so finding the genuine article is actually uncommon. Secondly, The Japanese plundered the places it took over during ww2 and then the communists took over and confiscated anything of value they could, they most likely would have stockpiled or melted down the coins they got so the mintage wouldn't reflect the amount of coins still out there.
According to Krause, the Chinese Communists re-struck this coin. It was later re-struck for use in Tibet. The output was massive. It seems, again sighting Krause, that coins for years 8 and 9 were the ones re-struck over the ensuing years. I still have my Krause "World Coins", 1993 edition, which I purchased new at a remainder book store. It is now battered, worn and yellowed, just like its owner.
It is a nice coin BUT with all the fakes going around, it is basically at your own risk unless from a VERY reliable source, which ebay is NOT.
It's probably too late to start in Chinese numismatics unless you've got deep pockets. Even some of the base metal coins are starting to command some silly prices. I am lucky to start off early - today it's just impossible to do a duplicate of what I have. Small denomination coins and or copper coins are still doable so don't give up if you do have your heart in it. As mentioned by many others, counterfeits are a serious problem so you have to tread it carefully. Unfortunately even well established sellers in the US have even fallen for it so you really need to know your stuff.
I have an NGC certified problem free AU fat man dollar that I bought on EBay a couple years ago. Last I checked it has almost doubled in price. Something tells me that these coins cannot be as common as Morgans despite their astronomical mintages. Even with high demand from collectors in China, the prices show that there must be some level of scarcity. After the ChiComs restrict them I wonder how many got melted and/or confiscated during the Cultural Revolution. Unlike Morgan’s, most are circulated with cleaning and other problems. I would never buy one of these raw, even from a reputable dealer, as it would be hard to resell IMO. But at least if you have a raw one you can be sure it was made in China. The ones from the Hu and Xi dynasties are probably most common.
I'm a dealer, and I'm lucky to handle some nice Chinese coins, including the three that you mention, the 1911, the 1914 and the 1927. What I've noticed is that the market is EXTREMELY hot right now, with problem coins usually trading at what the PCGS price guide has them at. (ngc priceguide is very undervalued I find). Straightgrade examples trade for double or more of the price guide. I think a nice XF or AU Details 1911 Dollar can be found for under $1200, an XF or AU 1914 can be found for $300, and a nice AU/UNC 1927 can be found for $300.
