I attended a coin show several months ago and bought this along with a bunch of other Chinese coins, German States, etc for 50¢. When I got home I took a second look at this one and realized it was a DDO. I set it aside since then as a curiosity but I just dug it back up again and am wondering if this actually has value. There were doubled dies on Chinese coins but this is the only one I can find on this variety specifically. Any thoughts?
It's really not DDO ... it's machine/mechanical doubling (MD) caused by the die being loose in the holder/keeper. In the nanosecond after the die strikes the planchet, the die slightly moves as it's coming off the coin.
I would say it sure looks like a DDR. I have several of this style Its hard to see the serifs from the pictures but it sure looks like it. I have one that was not as extreme and PCGS labeled it as a minor variety. There are a lot of Chinese error collectors about there You could probably get between $30-50 in the ungraded state its in by my best guess.
It's hard to tell from the photo, but it could be hub-doubling as well, which would make it DDR, rather than MD.
Thank you for the comments everyone. Really cool piece regardless of value. Now I know what the reverse is on old Chinese coins.
The Ching Dynasty minted coin (Most) have a dragon on the obverse and the same style letters on the reverse. the Republic era 1912-1949 generally have the 2 flags on the Obverse. If I recall correctly one is for the country and one for the military.
Respectfully, this has obvious signs of true doubling: increased device sizes, notching, etc. In that condition, it likely has no extra value, but it's still cool.
Machine doubling does not cause a shifted, split secondary image such as this. This is clearly hub doubling - and a very extreme example.
