Communist Issues - Dawn of the People's Republic of China

Soviet Republic of China. Shaanxi -Szechuan Silver Dollar. 1937. EF. Ex-Baldwin's.

Obv: The Soviet Hammer & Sickle symbol on top of the map of China on the world. Over arching slogan inciting all landless people around the world to rise up.

Rev: 1 Yuan. Soviet Republic of China

Whilst the Nationalists held central power under Chiang Kai-Shek, the Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong held autonomous controls over parts of China in poorer provinces such as Shaanxi, Sichuan etc. To establish semblance of a legitimate government, the Communists issued their own currency for circulation and trade within territories under their jurisdiction and neighbors. Amongst these include the elusive Soviet Chinese Silver Dollar particularly for trade purposes instead of intended mass circulation. Given the primitive nature of their technology and scarcity of resources as a result of Japanese and Nationalist aggression, their mintage are not only crude but also very scarce especially the higher value coins such as the silver dollar.

Unfortunately for the Communists, when they attempted to consolidate their government and introduction of these independent currencies, they were severely routed by the Nationalist armies of Chiang Kai-Shek forcing them to embark on the historically significant Long March within the same year (1937) with severe casualties. As a result all minting was stopped and many already scarce existing issues were either destroyed, confiscated or melted.

With the victory of the Communist Party after the war and the birth of the People's Republic of China, these Soviet Chinese issues have become extremely collectible and significant as they reminded the PROC of today their birth, history, defeats and subsequent triumph up till today.

 

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It's very rare and very cool coin!!!!

 

Thanks you.. these were often crudely struck and worn given the poor conditions of the time. I was very elated to be able to find this specimen..

The Communist Party government was a far cry from what is today to their dire situations back then

 

That's a really interesting piece. I have never heard of them but the history behind them is fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

 

You're welcome.. glad to be able to share.. there is an even earlier non silver crude coinage used.. will post it next time

 

Wow - impressive addition!

 

Thanks.. something more modern from ancients for a change

 

Ya, I'm guilty of the occasional modern purchase.

 

This is definitely a highlight in any serious Chinese-Soviet collectors and congratulations! Definitely not a coin that appears in the market anytime.

The smaller denominations are certainly more affordable yet somewhat uncommon to scarce. To make this more complicated, the Chinese-Soviet examples are subdivided into Shaanxi-Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hunan and other rarer examples.
Some more affordable examples were officially restruck in the 1960s which usually goes at a more reasonable price.

Here are some examples



This copper 2 jiao apparently caused a bit of a debate whether such a coin did exist.





Restruck examples - copper plated





Missing the 200 cash example which I have not got around to photograph.

 

That's an amazing collections of Communist Issues. I don't even have half of them.. Thanks for sharing

 

Here is another favorite of mine which is the earliest Communist coinage in circulation..

These are very worn or heavily circulated Republic general issued copper coins but with the distinction of having the Soviet symbol of the sickle and hammer chopped on the obverse. These are very rare early coinages crudely adopted during their infancy.

Republic of China 1931

Hunan Soviet punch marked coin on ROC coin

Probably one of the earliest if not the earliest forms of coins used by the then fledgling Chinese Soviet (Communist) group during the Republic of China. Without proper minting technology, administration body and resources, they resolved to punch the Soviet Hammer and Sickle symbol on existing widely circulated coins for use. Per Stephen Album:

"The only references to these were from the 'Money Company' coin auction of September 1984 and a Gregory G. Brunk article in the Numismatics International "Bulletin " of July/August 2009. This coin was picked from bags containing 30,000 coins put aside during WWII as the Japanese were melting Chinese coppers for the war effort. Only 100 of these countermarked pieces were found in the bags on various host coins of which about 20% had clear countermarks".

 

Fascinating discussion guys!

 

One advantage that the Chinese communists had in recruiting soldiers for their campaigns was that they stuck to paying soldiers in silver coins, crude as they might have been silver will always trump paper money when afforded a choice. The Nationalists on the other hand paid their soldiers in paper money which quickly lost all value due to inflation.

One minor correction in the timeline, the Long March was in 1934-5. It started in the Jiangxi province, Nanchang. There is a memorial in the centre of the city square where the march is alleged to have begun, I will have to find a picture of it sometime and share it here.

 

Thanks... I made a mistake with the time line.. actually @scottishmoney is right. Both the long march and the issue of this coin is 1934. Made an error in my description and typing.. thanks for pointing that out but not sure how to update and edit the descriptiom

 

This is the kind of coin that really interests me - those obscure bits of history like this.

 

Totally agree.. particularly when it is a link to a a significant chapter in history...

 

In fact, I'd go beyond that: this kind of coin didn't really interest me at all until I read this history. Thanks for sharing it!

 

I'm not too sure if I can believe the story of such counterstamps - I've seen a flood of them appearing in the last few years. Mind you, those original host coins are worth a few dollars and to counterstamp them and sell them at a higher value... I can see it happening. There are also rarer counterstamp of Fat Man silver yuan coins but I'll leave it as it is.

The history of Chinese coinage from 1900s to 1940s is simply chaotic. I've been trying to map the different coinages in a single map but found it to be absurdly difficult. The gradual downfall of the Qing Dynasty led various provinces to mint their own coins - the value of such coins were heavily dependent on their economy as well as their circumstances. Hence there was a huge variety of denomination, sizes as well as different types of metal alloys.

The so called Chinese-Soviet issues are no different. These were born in an attempt to bolster their image of a functional economy. As mentioned by others, the survival rate of such coins are very low. Copper coins as well were heavily melted down as they became crucial war metal for guns, cannons etc.

I can only imagine this thread has become one of the main reasons for such coins to be more desirable. Of course, counterfeits of such coins do exist so do watch out. Original coins are often crudely struck.

This is a counterfeit of a 200 cash

 

Counterfeits do exist. Which makes it all the more important to research and source only from reliable sources. Those recent flooding I too have seen them before. Very often they appear to be of recent fabric and often has the 苏维埃 stamp on it. Caution is thus extremely important if pursuing this field

 

And just to share that not all such counterstamped coins are suspect.. please refer to the following

http://www.moneta-coins.com/photopo...oviet-counterstamp-20-cash&cat=koqmnqirgunoaw