Manufactured by: Central Mint Tianjin Branch, Tianjin
Provenance: Stack’s Bowers 2024
This is a silver coin minted in the 34th year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign (AD 1908) by the Central Mint Tianjin Branch, formerly known as the Peiyang Silver Dollar Bureau. It is responsible for producing the “Guangxu Yuan Pao” silver coins with a denomination of 7 Mace 2 Candareens.
The obverse side features a five-clawed coiled dragon exhaling a fireball, with the English inscription “34 th YEAR OF KUANG HSU” marking the year of minting. It is worth noting the two small dots beneath the “th” underline and the three small dots at the end of the “U.”
Starting from the 25th year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign (AD 1899), the English year of minting was typically engraved on the obverse side of coins minted by the Peiyang, continuing until the 34th year of Guangxu’s reign (AD 1908) when minting ceased. The bottom edge bears the English transliteration of the mint name, “PEI YANG,” with a large dot on each side.
On the reverse side, there is a beaded border, within which the characters “Guangxu Yuan Pao” are engraved in both Chinese and Manchu scripts. The outer periphery on both sides is divided by circular dots, with the inscription “Made by Peiyang” along the upper edge and the denomination “Kuping 7 Mace 2 Candareens” along the lower edge, denoting the weight according to the taxation system of the Qing Dynasty.
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.
In the 26th year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign (AD 1900), following the destruction caused by the Eight-Nation Alliance to the Peiyang Arsenal, the relevant coin minting activities were transferred to the newly established Silver Dollar Bureau the following year. In the 33rd year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign (AD 1908), the Silver Dollar Bureau was reorganised into the Central Mint Tianjin Branch under the arrangement of the Ministry of Finance. It continued to play a significant role in finance until the early years of the Republic of China.
The version minted in the 34th year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign coincided with a turbulent period. Both the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi passed away in November of that year amidst political turmoil. Due to the chaotic state of affairs, there was a lack of rigorous quality control over the production of Guangxu Yuan Pao coins, resulting in various versions and widespread issuance irregularities. This particular coin is known as the “Long Spine Version,” characterised by the dragon’s tail extending more towards the left on the obverse side. Subsequently, with the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, the Guangxu Yuan Pao coins minted in the 34th year were used as military pay to suppress the revolutionary forces moving southward. The influence of these coins spread as the troops crossed the Yellow River and reached regions like Jiangnan, Hunan and Hubei destricts.
錢幣正面是一隻吐出火球的五爪蟠龍,上緣以英文「光緒34年」(34th YEAR OF KUANG HSU)標示鑄造年份。「th」底線下方的兩點和「U」結尾有三粒小圓點是值得注意的細節。自光緒25年(公元1899年)起,北洋造在正面皆會鐫刻該年度的英文年份,直到光緒34年(公元1908年)停鑄為止。下緣則是指稱工廠「北洋」(PEI YANG)的英文拼音,其左右兩側各有一粒大圓點。