Auction Information

Description

In the year of Bingwu of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, one or two sample coins were minted in the Qing Dynasty's gold coin vault, with a glossy edge and a large cloud version. This coin was minted in an extremely precise and standardized manner, with a deep and exquisite craftsmanship, a mirror base, perfect luster, and excellent condition. In 1906, the Tianjin Mint of the Ministry of Revenue made a trial of pure gold, which was the only gold coin in China made under the name of the central government. Due to insufficient gold reserves and the failure to establish the gold standard system, it was not issued, and only Bingwu and Dingwei year numbered sample coins are known in the world, There are very few people who open the door to the next generation, and they are sought after by top collectors. China's machine-made currency is a compendium of reputation products. Gold has never played a major role in China's currency because of the low mining output in the past, and there has never been officially circulated gold coins. After the defeat of the First Sino Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, due to the use of gold as the calculation standard for compensation, the decline in the exchange of silver for gold resulted in a doubling of the so-called "pound loss" during repayment. Therefore, the court and the public urgently planned countermeasures, and once again, there were proposals to reform the currency system and follow the example of Europe and America to quickly implement the gold standard. Amidst the voices of reform, the Qing government issued an order in March of the 29th year of the Guangxu reign (April 1903) to establish a general factory for casting silver coins in the capital. Subsequently, the site was relocated to Tianjin due to the consideration of water and coal transportation for machine operation. In August 1905, the Ministry of Finance reported that the Tianjin Factory had started trial production of copper coins in June, and attached the "Brief Regulations of the Silver Coin Factory" for review: "It was named the Ministry of Revenue Mint Factory. The three grade coins produced, namely the Great Qing Gold Coin, Great Qing Silver Coin, and Great Qing Copper Coin, were circulated throughout the country for uniformity." In the 32nd year of the Guangxu reign (1906), the factory tried to mint the "Great Qing Gold Coin," with the emperor's name and the year number "Made in the Bingwu year of the Guangxu reign.", The following year, a gold coin was minted with the age changed to Dingwei (1907). Due to the limited understanding of modern numismatics by both the court and the public, the controversy over the currency system was inconclusive, causing the Qing government to be indecisive between various claims of the "Yuan Liang dispute" and the "gold and silver standard.". The Mint was at a loss, either following the previous or later statements. Many versions of the sample coins were produced based on different proposals, and one of them was the two Qing Dynasty gold coins that came to an end without any progress. The quantity of Qing Dynasty gold coins produced is not yet known in literature, and their surviving quantity can be briefly seen from the discussions of the leaders of the Quan Realm. In May 1943, the 18th issue of Quan Coin recorded that Zhang Gangbo obtained the three coins of Jilin Changping in 1920. After seeing this, Italian diplomat Ross was willing to exchange them for a pair of Bingwu and Dingwei Qing Dynasty gold coins; At that time, the market price of the factory was over a hundred yuan, while each gold coin was only fifty yuan. In the 1940s, "the price of silver coins in Changping remained the same as before, and it was not easy to obtain ten thousand gold coins per item." Dai Dongting also mentioned in the 20th issue of September of the same year the Ding Wei one or two gold coins, saying, "The design is simple, the text is delicate, and they are both rare items like the Bingwu gold coins." "At that time, there were not many mints and the gold standard system was not yet determined, which left a lasting impression on the short-lived flowers. It can also be sighed. In the early Republic of China, its price was very cheap, and nearly boiling with the price of gold, it also surged dozens of times." Bingwu gold coins were divided into toothed edge small cloud version and light edge large cloud version, with the size of clouds on the edge and outside of the dragon.