By Chris Chatigny, Cataloger
The Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio
August Hong Kong auction is just a few days away, and everyone involved in this
auction is eagerly awaiting stellar activity. China provides our final preview item
for this auction, a highly sought after 1904 Hupeh Tael in a high grade that is
sure to attract spirited bidding activity. Viceroy Chang Chi Tung put forth the
order to strike a Kuping Tael silver coin. The Hupeh provincial mint in the
city of Wuchang produced nearly 648,000 coins, with two varieties, a large
character and a small character variety. This example is the small character
variety, and is slightly more common than the large character variety. It is
unclear exactly how many of each type were struck. Kann mentions that a plan
was put forth to produce smaller denominations in the values of 5, 2 and 1
Mace. However, no such pieces have surfaced (even in pattern form) and it seems
unlikely that they were ever produced. Ultimately this coinage type never saw a
long tenure in circulation, and was discontinued the following year. Although
the mintage figures seem high, most of the coinage was melted down to be reused
in later coinage, including the Unified Tai Ching Ti Kuo coinage series. One
possible reason for the unpopular reception could be its lower silver content
of 0.877 fine silver, much lower than the 0.960 fine silver set forth by the
currency regulations of 1905 (one year after these Hupeh Taels were minted). The
melting down of a good sized portion of this series has driven the demand up
for these iconic coins.
The obverse of this coin features
the infamous Chinese dragon, but this design surpasses the standard design by
incorporating two of the awe-inspiring beasts. Two dragons are depicted flying
and striving towards a flaming pearl which is descending towards the middle of
coin’s design. The dragons appear to mirror each other, with spiraling clouds
placed intermittently around them. Within the circle formed by these two flying
dragons are the Chinese characters denoting One Tael. Manchu characters at the
right and left also state the denomination of One Tael. The upper and lower
English legends convey the location of Hu-peh Province and One Tael. The
reverse of the coin displays an all Chinese and Manchu legend. The upper
portion states in Chinese: “Made in Hupeh Province (in the) 30th Year (of
emperor) Kuang Hsu. The lower legend reads: Kuping (weight) 1 Tael and these
legends are separated by a rosette composed of seven dots. The inner
inscription is surrounded by a border of dots, and dominates most of the visual
field for the reverse. The center legend contains four Chinese symbols which
denote: “Valuable Coin (of the) Kuang Hsu (regime).” Four Manchu characters
appear within the larger Chinese characters and convey the same meaning as the
central inscription. This example grades an impressive Mint State 63 by PCGS,
and is an excellent example of this much sought after type.
Look for this and other Asian
numismatic rarities in our upcoming August Hong Kong Sale. Preview this
impressive coin along with the rest of our auction this August at the Stack’s
Bowers and Ponterio office located in Irvine, California. For details please
refer to the Auction Schedule/Details link under Current Auctions at
www.StacksBowers.com. To schedule an appointment, please call 800.566.2580.
While our Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio Hong Kong sale is closed for further
consignments, we are currently taking consignments of world and Asian coins and
paper money for our November Baltimore, January New York International, and
April 2014 Hong Kong sales. If you are interested in consigning your coins and
paper currency (whether a whole collection or a single rarity) be sure to
contact one of our consignment directors.
No comments:
Post a Comment