For a long time I´ve tried to identify this coin, but with no luck. It is made of silver, 22,5 mm in diameter, about the size of a 20 cent/20 Fen coin, but it is not to be found in Krause, not under coins or patterns, not under national coinage or provincial coinage. Because it is minted to commemorate the birth of the republic of China, I suppose it´s minted around 1912.
The bust appears to be Sun Yat Sen, and the Chinese legend is essentially the same as the English one, with no date. My guess is that your piece dates from 1916 or later. The Manchu traitor Gen. Yuan Shi Kai (whose bust appears on the so-called "Fat Man Dollars) attempted to in turn betray the Republic he had helped to victory over the Imperial army by declaring himself the new Emperor. Although he was never formally installed as such, and remained "President" in name until his death in 1916, I can't believe that he would have allowed Sun Yat Sen to be honored above himself.
It's KM# 317 20 Cents, ND(1912). The current KM has the wrong picture, the 2000 edition has the correct picture. http://www.coinarchives.com/w/lotviewer.php?LotID=298967&AucID=219&Lot=4111
dr. sun-yat sen. - founding father of the republic of china. both china (people's & taiwan) respected him. a lot of silver one yuan (one dollar) also commemorated him.
Have found listing for several of these on Taiwan's Yahoo. They did not have pictures but generally gave date range between year 16 to year 38 (not every year--only few) with most likely being year 16. Price started at NT$300 and up for VF but if has English error "PIRLH OF REBUBLIO OF OHINA" FOR "BIRTH OF REPUBLIC OF CHINA" then could be worth several hundred. Were several sizes and about five years of production. Many fakes... but some real!
Its Sun-yat sen..... Many, many fakes from red china, make sure its real silver and not steel alloy. Good luck Traci
Have found one of these at auction site #171 www.baldwin.co.uk/HKCA46P1ChineseCoins.pdf it is #171 at this site. Seems good source for finding old Chinese coins. Don't know about pricing of item since it's an auction site. Unfortunately for me, no Taiwan currency here!
Ripley, should've listened? Bought 5 1 mace and 4.4 candareens in the market (were very cheap) but English side has "Kwang Tung Province" but two of the coins have Zhe Jiang in Chinese on the other side and three coins have Fu Jian in Chinese on the Chinese side? Did not notice until I got them home. No wonder they were less than US$1.00 each! Thought the Manchurian was a bit rough looking, but they did sound ok. OH well, these are my first counterfeits. Guess I'll start a collection--if they are this cheap.
