This is a one-sar silver coin minted by the “Tihwa Mint” in Dihua, the capital of Xinjiang province (now Urumqi), in the sixth year of the Republic of China (AD 1917). The obverse side of the coin features two beaded circles, with the central circle engraved with the upright Chinese characters “one sar”, flanked by the Uyghur script for “silver coin”. The outer edges of the coin are divided by plum blossoms, with the inscription “Tihwa Mint” on the upper edge and the minting year “6th ROC era” on the lower edge.
The reverse side also features two beaded circles, with the inner circles inscribed with the Uyghur script for “Urumqi” and “One Sar” denomination. The outer perimeter is adorned with floral patterns in an Arabic style. The silver coin is categorised into two versions based on the presence or absence of a plum blossom at the top, known as the “Rosette” and “Non-Rosette” versions, respectively. This particular item is identified as the “Rosette version.”
The establishment of the Tihwa Mint can be traced back to the 29th year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign (AD 1903). Yang Zengxin, who was serving as the Zhen Tihwa Dao Tai at the time, received orders from higher authorities to emulate other oases such as Kashgar and Aksu in finding a suitable location for setting up the Tihwa Mint. By AD 1917, as the Republic of China era began, the Xinjiang provincial government, in order to provide currency for circulation limited to Tihwa, once again issued silver coins. However, the minting machinery at the Tihwa Mint was inherited from the late Qing Dynasty governor Yuan Dahua, purchased in Shanghai, and after years of use, its pressure had become insufficient. As a result, the minted coins had unclear designs, and production was reluctantly halted in the 7th year of the Republic (AD 1918).
During the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China, the varying weight standards of silver coins in different regions led to confusion in domestic currency exchange. In Xinjiang, a frontier region of the Qing Empire, the unit of measurement initially followed the “Kuping” standard, which was based on taxes collected by the central government. However, following the invasion by Yakub Beg during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, and the subsequent reconquest of Xinjiang by the Hunanese-led Xiang Army under the leadership of Zuo Zongtang, individuals from Hunan emerged as a new political force in Xinjiang. Consequently, after Xinjiang was established as a province in the 10th year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign (AD 1884), the weight standard shifted to the “Xiangping” standard from Hunan, which continued to be used until the early years of the Republic of China.
This coin is embedded in a silver dish crafted by the renowned Shanghai silversmith Zee Sung, with the manufacturing period estimated to fall roughly between AD 1927 and AD 1932.
