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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;manymore, post: 1666399, member: 17118&quot;]The coin is indeed interesting even though it is not much scarcer than the other varieties.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to the authoritative Chinese reference &quot;Great Dictionary of Chinese Numismatics&quot; (中國錢幣大辭典), this variety was not produced in 1912 but rather during the period 1913-1915 at the mint in Tianjin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unlike the more common varieties, the Chinese inscription at the bottom of the obverse side is not <i>kai guo ji nian bi</i> (開國紀念幣) or &quot;Commemorative Coin of the Founding of the Country&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Instead, the inscription is <i>gong he ji nian bi</i> (共和紀念幣) or &quot;Commemorative Coin of the Republic&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is the &quot;circulating&quot; version of the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is also a very famous pattern or &quot;signed&quot; version of this coin which can be seen at <a href="http://www.cguardian.com/tabid/77/Default.aspx?oid=240165" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cguardian.com/tabid/77/Default.aspx?oid=240165" rel="nofollow">this website</a>. If you look carefully at the reverse side of the coin (the &quot;ten cash&quot; side), you will notice the name &quot;L. GIORGI&quot; written in English in very small letters at about the 3 o&#039;clock position next to the rim.</p><p><br /></p><p>L. Giorgi was a very famous Italian engraver who was working at the Tianjin mint during this period.&nbsp; You can read more about L. Giorgi at the Tianjin mint in <a href="http://primaltrek.com/blog/2011/10/26/lu-xun-and-chinese-coins/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://primaltrek.com/blog/2011/10/26/lu-xun-and-chinese-coins/" rel="nofollow">this article and associated comments</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>The &quot;pattern&quot; version of the coin is very rare.&nbsp; This particular specimen sold at China Guardian Auctions in 2011 for the equivalent of about US$48,000 (RMB 299,000).</p><p><br /></p><p>What is particularly interesting to me has to do with the inscription &quot;Republic of China&quot; (中華民國) near the top rim of the obverse side on the &quot;circulating&quot; version of the coin. You will notice that the character <i>min</i> (民), which means &quot;republic&quot; and is the third character from the right, is written in an unusual manner.&nbsp; The character seems to be missing the top horizontal line.</p><p><br /></p><p>This does not appear to be an &quot;error&quot; because all specimens that I have seen in Chinese coin catalogs show the character written this way.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you look at the &quot;pattern&quot; version of the coin, or any of the other varieties, you will see that the <i>min</i> character is written in the conventional manner.</p><p><br /></p><p>I would be interested in learning more about this unusual calligraphy and would be very appreciative if anyone can provide additional information.</p><p><br /></p><p>Gary[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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