Year 2000: Dragon Fan-Shaped Chinese Silver Coin

Two years after China began minting Modern Chinese Coins, in 1981, the first Lunar gold and silver coins were produced. Nearly two decades later, in Year 2000, the innovative Chinese started to produce fan-shaped gold and silver coins that depicted the Lunar animals each year. Shenzhen Guobao Mint produced these coins such that when all 12 coins are put together, the silver coins would form the outer full circle while the gold coins would form the inner circle.

The gold version is proof-struck from 1/2 oz of 99.9% gold, with an outer radius of 58 mm while inner radius is 39 mm. It has a face value of 50 Yuan and a small mintage of 6,600. In the second half of 2009, there was only one transacted in international ebay at S$1,020 shipped while the NGC PF69 Ultra Cameo was transacted at S$1,348. These two transactions were done in July and August respectively, before gold price reached record high of US$1,226.

The silver version is a 1 oz BU version struck from 99.9% silver. Its outer radius measure 85 mm, inner radius of 60 mm. It has a face value of 10 Yuan and mintage of 66,000. Its transacted price ranges from S$148 to S$172.

Reverse:

Obverse:

November Transacted Prices for Gold Panda

After tracking transacted price of Chinese Panda Gold Coin for 6 months, besides the 1982 and 1995 version, prices of the rest of the years follow rather closely to bullion price. Thus, I will cease tracking transacted price of the Gold Coin.

1982 - $3,709.42 (NGC MS67)

1983 - $1,756.64

1984 - $1,870.74

1985 - $1,729.23

1986 - $1,711.16

1987P - $1,792.56

1987Y - $1,749.57

1987S - $1,724.79

1988 - $1,765.81

1989 - $1,799.97

1990 - $1,758.21

1991 - $1,681.78

1992 - $1,692.14

1994 - $1,748.34

1995 - $2,361.96

1996 - $1,799.85

1997 - $1,678.23

1998 - $1,986.56

1999 -

2000 - $1,703.45

2001 - $1,640.38

2002 - $1,703.45

2003 - $1,725.04

2004 - $1,668.41

2005 -

2006 - $1,710.64

2007 -

2008 - $1,862.40 (PCGS MS69 First Strike)

2009 - $1,861.51

November Transacted Prices for Silver Panda

The 1989 version continued its climb from $40 in August to above $60. The 1992 Large Date version also leaped from $84 to $178, highest in 5 months. The 1996 Small Date version was also highest in 5 months with 50% increase from previous month. There were no 1999 version auctioned for the second successive month. Post-2000 version had fallen, notably the 2003 version continued its decline from $70 to $42 over 5 months. It is difficult to understand why 2003 and 2006 are asking higher prices given the same mintage.

However, the 2008 and 2009 version are making their way towards the $40 mark. Collectors seem to think that 2008 is the year China host the Olympics while 2009 is their 60th Anniversary. Do grab some if you able to get them cheap, especially for the 2008 as they are getting less transacted. There was a continual decline from August to November from 39 to 15, notably seller jim_teri did not have any transaction in November for the 2008 version. A similar trend is observed on 2009 version though not as scarce. The decline is from 111 to 49.

1989 62.24

1990L 51.06 1990S -

1991L 122.66 1991S 93.95

1992L 178.77 1992S -

1993L 73.34 1993S 85.66

1994L 102.61 1994S -

1995L 46.48 1995S 59.83

1996L 36.29 1996S 63.18

1997L - 1997S 50.18

1998L - 1998S 74.37

1999LP - 1999S - 1999LS -

2000F 132.82 2000M -

2001 39.99 2001D 42.71

2002 34.72

2003 42.81

2004 43.40

2005 34.14

2006 38.14

2007 34.51

2008 39.30

2009 37.46

Fake - 2010 Chinese Lunar Tiger

Barely a month after the launch of the 2010 Chinese Lunar Tiger coins, the counterfeits has surfaced! Ebay seller xuemei828 has listed these counterfeit coins. While she has the slightest ethics in declaring that these are gold and silver plated coins, there would be many others who would pass it off as the genuine coins simply because there is no way to know by visually looking the the coins. It would be until it is being weighed that we would know. Alternatively, old-time coin collectors are aware that the newer issues of Chinese coins are no longer double-sealed, hence, photographs of double-sealed coins would likely to be deemed as counterfeits.

Another way would be to look and feel the Certificate of Authenticity (COA). The counterfeit COA is printed by high quality printers and hence, makes the genuine COA colour look pale and feint. In the 25-Coin Panda set, counterfeit COA does not have watermark. However, this counterfeit COA HAS watermark. The difference that can be felt is as the counterfeit feels flat while imprints could be seen and felt on the genuine COA. However, over time and after the coin and COA has crossed many hands, we may not be able to use this method to authenticate. This makes me wonder on the impact on slabbing the coins because while it seems safe to buy slabbed coins, the slabs could also be counterfeited together with the coins. Where does Chinese coin collection go from here?

2010 Chinese Panda Coin

The 2010 Chinese Panda coins would be issued by November 2009. There would be 7 gold and 3 silver panda coins for 2010.

The planned maximum mintage is as follows, previous year mintage in ( ):

GOLD

1 kilo: 200

5oz: 1,000

1oz: 300,000 (160,000)

1/2oz: 120,000 (60,000)

1/4oz: 120,000 (60,000)

1/10oz: 120,000 (100,000)

1/20oz: 120,000 (100,000)

SILVER

2010 Chinese Silver Panda Obverse

2010 Chinese Silver Panda Reverse

1 kilo: 4,000

5oz: 10,000

1oz: 800,000 (600,000)

The Chinese government is definitely encouraging more of their common People to hold physical precious metals by greatly increasing the mintage for the smaller denomination.

Within 1 month of issue, collectors began to spot the differences between the 2010 Silver Panda coins. It began with 2 varieties differentiated by their capsules - Shenzhen Guobao Mint uses capsules that has 3 hitches inside to keep the coin in position. It was observed that the Shenzhen produced coin had a frosty background of the bamboo.

Later on, other collectors also observed that from each mint, there are actually 2 varieties making it total of 4 varieties for the 2010 version of Silver Panda coins. The differences between the 4 varieties can be observed from the 'black' fur at the neck of the left panda and right hind leg of the right panda.

Total NGC graded: 16,959

MS70 (1,805); MS69 (11,705); MS68 (3,271); MS67 (117); MS66 (47); MS65 (7); MS64 (7)

Fake - 2003 Silver Panda

Back in September, I bought a fake 2003 Silver Panda from ebay seller longlong65. I had suspected that it would be fake since he sprung up from no where to start selling silver pandas. Nonetheless, I got a second offer from him though I lost the bid. These fakes sellers would post photographs of genuine coins in double seal stolen from other genuine ebay coin sellers. And when questioned about the coin, these fakes sellers wouldn't be able to give you a proper answer. Like when I asked seller about the weight of the coin in grams, he could only reply me that it weighs 1 oz.

The fake coin was very well struck and it had the right diameter and thickness. Only when weighed, we could tell it is a fake. The fake weighed only 26.5g, which is still less than the 1 oz that he claimed. The tussle went on for a month and paypal required me to send the item back and provide a tracking number. This was done and I had to continue the wait till I wrote to ebay this time asking ebay to show paypal the record of this seller who made his feedback rating private probably after many negative feedback received. After a few days, paypal replied that they would refund the money.

Photos of genuine vs counterfeit:

1984 Chinese Historical Figures Silver Set

The first of the Chinese Historical Figure Set (中国杰出历史人物纪念币) was issued in 1984. It was a set of 4 silver proof coins of 90% fineness each weighing 22g, diameter of 36 mm and a face value of 5 Yuan. A planned mintage of 30,000 sets were minted by Shanghai Mint. According to Mr. Ge Zhu Kang's catalog, the eventual mintage was 14,401.

The obverse of each coin depicts the Chinese national emblem, year of issue and 中华人民共和国.

The reverse of the 4 coins depicts the Terra Cotta Army:

General (将军俑)

Officer (武官俑)

Kneeling Archer (跪射俑)

Horseman (牵马俑)

In the same year a 1/3 oz gold coin of 91.6% fineness, 23 mm in diameter and face value of 100 Yuan was also issued with a planned mintage of 25,000. The gold coin was issued with the same theme depicting the great Emperor of Qin with the Great Wall of China as the background. Mr. Ge recorded that an eventual 10,327 of this coin was issued and was minted by the Shenyang Mint.