Description

Red Copper Silver Plated Commemorative Bullion ‘Yuan Shikai’ – China Qing Dynasty

Est. beginning 20th Century (1912) – END of Late Qing Dynasty

Hand poured silver plated red copper  – image of Yuan Shikai  (1859-1916 : General – Government official – first official President of the Republic of China – last Emperor for 83 days!)

He gave the name to the “Yuan” value coins China is having since than!

As it was beyond the skills of the primitive Chinese metallurgists to remove the red copper from the coinage, 98% of the so called ‘red cash’ was copper with the rest either being zinc or lead.

To promote the ‘new coinage’ Yuan Shikai started with commemorative bullions showing him in Military uniform, next to the Chinese dragon (impersonating the power) and on the reverse side the nr of piece minted, the percentage of red copper (being 98%) and the total mintage.

Size : L  1.2″ – H  0.8″ (L  3cm – H  2cm)

Very Very Fine condition – over 100 years old !

Extremely scarce collector’s item – this is nr. 691 out of 1000 pieces minted