This is a one-dollar trade silver coin minted between AD 1895 and AD 1935 by Britain, as well as by mints in Bombay and Calcutta in colonial India, to facilitate trade with China and Southeast Asia. The obverse features a series of concentric decorations from the outer edge to the centre, comprising an unbroken pattern in the Greco-Roman style, a beaded ring, and a solid circle. The outermost Greco-Roman style pattern closely resembles traditional Chinese cloud and thunder motifs.
Within the circle is a standing figure of Britannia, symbolising Britain, which led to the coin being known in China as the “Standing Dollar.” Britannia’s left hand rests on a shield adorned with the Union Jack, while her right hand holds a trident that slightly protrudes from the circular frame. Close examination of the trident’s centre reveals the mint mark “B,” indicating it was struck at the Bombay Mint. To Britannia’s lower left, a three-masted sailing ship is partially visible in the background. The year of issue, “1911,” is inscribed below the figure, while the denomination “ONE DOLLAR” is marked at the top edge in English.
The reverse side features the same decorative elements as the obverse, with a Greek-Roman style seamless pattern, a bead circle, and a solid triple ring. At the centre is a four-petal floral design, with a Chinese character for “longevity” (壽) in the middle, symbolising good fortune. The vertical and horizontal petals are inscribed with the denomination in Chinese and Jawi script, respectively, indicating “One Dollar” and “One Ringgit,” the latter being used in the Malay Peninsula.
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 AD 1841, following the First Opium War, Britain obtained Hong Kong as a trading base through the Treaty of Nanjing. The following year, to replace foreign silver coins circulating in Hong Kong, the Governor ordered the minting of a batch of silver coins featuring the head of Queen Victoria. However, these coins were not widely accepted in the market due to their low silver content. It wasn’t until AD 1895 that Britain minted another type of silver coin with 90% purity according to international standards, which was accepted by residents of Hong Kong and found its way into neighbouring regions in South and Central China, as well as reaching as far as Southeast Asia in places like Singapore and Malaysia.
Despite this, the popularly termed “Standing Dollar” still had a purity about 5% lower compared to Chinese pattern silver. Consequently, Britain could exchange the same amount for higher purity pattern silver, leading to a crisis of outflow of Chinese silver. It was under the impact of low-purity foreign silver coins that in the 13th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign (AD 1887), Zhang Zhidong, then the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, petitioned the imperial court to establish a domestic mechanical mint in Guangzhou, thus initiating the beginning of modern monetary reform in China.
