Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Fake - 2000 Silver Panda (Mirror)

Stumbled upon a fake coin selling at ebay today. Seller from China has only 40 ratings though 100% positive. Interestingly, the shipping cost he quoted is only US$9.38.

Anyway here is a picture of the fake:


There are many tell tale signs on the reverse side.
1. The ears
2. The right arm joining the shoulder
3. Left hand claws
4. Space between the legs
5. Missing face value (Most obvious)

And here is the real coin:

Obverse of the fake:

1. Fonts of year of mint are all different
2. The 3 levels of the temple are different
3. The middle stairway has design on it
4. 3 front posts instead of 4 on the real one
5. The front wall joining the front posts is rough
6. The tip of the roof is different

Real coin:

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Transacted Prices of Silver Panda

Year Jun
Ave
Price
Jun
Shipped Price
1989 49.99 69.90
1990L 55.97 71.96
1991S 143.99 152.99
1992L 86.06 99.19
1993 99.18 118.00
1994L 116.34 116.34
1995S 51.35 64.17
1995L 51.68 58.96
1996L 46.60 58.24
1997S 45.16 58.11
1998S 99.22 109.34
1999LP 72.06 84.07
2000 152.06 169.47
2001 37.76 69.49
2001D 56.40 58.81
2002 41.25 67.70
2003 70.64 88.04
2004 36.52 58.81
2005 34.89 60.87
2006 39.29 82.95
2007 32.46 42.12
2008 33.15 41.60
2009 34.22 46.72

The above are transacted prices worldwide during June 2009 in ebay. The prices are in Singapore Dollar (SGD) on 1 oz.t double sealed bullions except for 1992 and 1999, which are in capsule instead of double seal. L denotes Large Date, S denotes Small Date, LP - Large Plain, D - Domestic.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

2008 Chinese Silver Panda


2008 Chinese Silver Panda Obverse


2008 Chinese Silver Panda Reverse

This coin weighs 37.0g or 1.19 oz.t together with the hard plastic capsule.

The 2008 Chinese Silver Panda were issued with the following mintage:

1 oz.t 40mm 10 Yuan BU 600000
5 oz.t 70mm 50 Yuan Proof 10000
1 kilo 100mm 300 Yuan Proof 4000


Total NGC graded: 3,701
MS70 (839); MS69 (2,647); MS68 (140); MS67 (51); MS66 (10); MS65 (8); MS64 (5); MS63 (1)


PCGS MS70 First Strike (Population of 255)

2009 Chinese Silver Panda






2009 Chinese Silver Panda Reverse


This coins weighs 37.0g or 1.19 oz.t together with the hard plastic capsule. It is observed that its edge is reed: '\\\\\\\\\\'.
The 2009 Chinese Silver Panda were issued on 28 Nov 2008 with the following mintage:

1 oz.t 40mm 10 Yuan BU 600000
5 oz.t 70mm 50 Yuan Proof 10000
1 kilo 100mm 300 Yuan Proof 4000

Total NGC graded: 3,012
MS70 (654); MS69 (2,003); MS68 (239); MS67 (76); MS66 (21); MS65 (6); MS64 (8); MS63 (4); MS62 (0); MS61 (1)

Sunday, June 7, 2009

History of Chinese Silver Panda

The Chinese Silver Panda is issued by the People's Bank of China. It is known as one of the Modern Chinese Coins as it was minted after 1979. Its very first issue was in 1983 as proof coin with a mintage of only 10,000 and a denomination of 10 Yuan. However, it did not consist of 1 troy ounce of silver. Its fineness was 90% and it weighed only 27g, where its silver weight is only 24.3g with a 38.6 mm diameter. It was the same for year of issue 1984 and 1985 except that it has a different design on its reverse of the pandas every year. No explanation was given to why no Silver Panda coins were minted in 1986.

In 1987, the first ever 31,000 proof Silver Panda coins of 99.9% fineness were minted and each weighed 31.1g. The Temple of Heaven used on the obverse was also subtly changed in the year 1987. In the period of 1983 - 1985, the top row of stone fence on either side of the main stairway remained unchanged with 8 posts on each side. The middle row, however, had 8 posts for 1983 - 1985 but had 7 posts for period 1987 - 1991. The front row had 5 posts compared to 6 previously. The extension of the stone fences from the side stairways was also reduced in terms of the number of posts in the new design. 1987 was also the year that 5 oz.t Silver Panda coins were first minted and had a face value of 50 Yuan.

There wasn't any 1 oz.t Silver Panda coins minted in 1988. However, the first ever 12 oz.t or 100 Yuan proof Silver Panda coins were issued with a very low mintage of 5,000 together with 11,000 pieces of 5 oz.t. Comparing the total amount of silver used in minting Silver Panda and Chinese Year of Rabbit Silver Coins in 1987 with Silver Panda and Chinese Year of Dragon Silver Coins in 1988, it shows 111,000 oz.t and 122,500 oz.t respectively, which is my guess why 1 oz.t Silver Panda coins were not minted in 1988 and this has yet to take into account the minting of the 15th Winter, 24th Summer Olympic Games and first issue of Endangered Wildlife Silver Coin Set.

1989 is the first year of issue of BU Silver Panda coins with a mintage of 255,000. During the period 1983 - 1989, all Silver Pandas were minted in Shanghai Mint. For period of 1990 - 1998, BU 1 oz.t Silver Panda coins were produced at both the Shanghai and Shenyang Mint, thus there are two versions for those years. In 1999, the Silver Panda is minted by three mints - Shanghai, Shenyang and Shenzhen Mints.

1998 is the first year of issue of 1 kg Proof Silver Panda that has a denomination of 200 Yuan and an interesting mintage of 1,998. It is subsequently followed 1,999 pieces for Year 1999 and 2,000 pieces for Year 2000 and capped at 2,000 pieces till Year 2001. From 2002 till date, except for 2003, 4,000 pieces were minted and the face value was increased to 300 Yuan. There were only 2,000 kilo Silver Panda coins minted in 2003.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

1991 Chinese Gold Panda



Today marks the purchase of my second Gold Panda in a week. It sure cost me quite some cash but for a coin mintage of 36,367 and it has been regarded as a scarce coin. We need to be clear about the terms 'Rare' and 'Scarce' being used here. I would consider a coin 'Rare' if it has low mintage of less than 5,000. 'Scarcity' of a coin would imply that it is seldom available for sale.




This coin like the 1987, comes in a sealed package with a label stating it is Made in China by China Gold Coin Incorporation (Lower row) and issued by The People's Bank of China (Upper row). Due to its different packaging, the overall weight for the coin is 1.065 oz.t or 33.2g.