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Hong Kong Signature Sale 3095 11-13 Dec 2021
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Hupeh. Kuang-hsü 20 Cash CD 1906 MS65 Red and Brown NGC, Wuchang mint, KM-Y11j, CCC-127, CL-HP.68, Duan-0423, Shanghai Museum-975, Hsu (Copper)-115, HNS-0502. By all measures a significant series rarity among the coppers of Hupeh, and the sole 20 Cash coin minted by the province. Typically only found in circulated grades, this challenging issue already comes fiercely contested whenever it becomes available, let alone when located at the absolute peak of the certified population as does this coin. While PCGS records having graded one MS65, this is the sole survivor in this conditional tier to have been awarded a Red and Brown designation, and one of only 7 Red and Brown-certified coins across the NGC and PCGS censuses. Indeed, a quick survey of the specimens present in major collections provides clear insight into the undeniable outlier status of the offering: the Patrick Tan example was an MS63 Brown, the Q. David Bowers/R.B. White piece a mere AU Details, the Norman Jacobs coin, while not certified, was clearly circulated, and the R.N.J. Wright specimen, while likely undergraded by the cataloger of that sale, seems to the present cataloger to have perhaps been an AU based on the photographs. The nearest representative we have been able to locate was the Wa She Wong example--an MS64 Brown--which hammered for $19,000 in 2010. What is more, neither the James H. Stewart Lockhart, Åke Lindén, nor the Daniel Ching collections contained an example.
Absolutely captivating from a glance, longer inspection of the piece even with magnification offers little ground for complaint. The surfaces are clean and strikingly mark-free even for a Gem Mint State coin, with blazing mint red color along the reliefs meeting with soft cobalt touches both atop the devices and within the wider fields. Certainly a piece that abounds with eye appeal, and very likely among the finest, if not the finest, known.
Founded in 1893, the mint established at the provincial capital of Wuchang acquired machinery for the minting of milled copper Cash in 1902 (presumably from the Heatons), with the associated Hanyang Arsenal copper mint opening in 1905. Tai Ching Ti Kuo dies were first supplied from the Central mint in Tientsin in 1906. Wright records, in a transcript from the Royal Consulate in Changsha dated 4 February 1907, that by the following year, all minting technology was removed from the 3 branch mints in neighboring Henan and relocated to Hupeh, which thenceforth acted as the sole mint for both provinces. While the exact reasons for the short-term production of 20 Cash coins at the mint are less clear to us today, the famous Chinese monetary historian, Peng Xinwei, purports, based on records from the Ministry of Finance Coinage Office, that the 20 Cash only constituted around 2% of the total copper coinage supply in the Empire, and circulated primarily in the North as well as in the provinces of Hunan, Hupeh, and Kiangsi.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/china/china-hupeh-kuang-hsu-20-cash-cd-1906-ms65-red-and-brown-ngc-/a/3095-34023.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3095-12112021
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 15000-20000 USD
Hupeh. Kuang-hsü 20 Cash CD 1906 MS65 Red and Brown NGC, Wuchang mint, KM-Y11j, CCC-127, CL-HP.68, Duan-0423, Shanghai Museum-975, Hsu (Copper)-115, HNS-0502. By all measures a significant series rarity among the coppers of Hupeh, and the sole 20 Cash coin minted by the province. Typically only found in circulated grades, this challenging issue already comes fiercely contested whenever it becomes available, let alone when located at the absolute peak of the certified population as does this coin. While PCGS records having graded one MS65, this is the sole survivor in this conditional tier to have been awarded a Red and Brown designation, and one of only 7 Red and Brown-certified coins across the NGC and PCGS censuses. Indeed, a quick survey of the specimens present in major collections provides clear insight into the undeniable outlier status of the offering: the Patrick Tan example was an MS63 Brown, the Q. David Bowers/R.B. White piece a mere AU Details, the Norman Jacobs coin, while not certified, was clearly circulated, and the R.N.J. Wright specimen, while likely undergraded by the cataloger of that sale, seems to the present cataloger to have perhaps been an AU based on the photographs. The nearest representative we have been able to locate was the Wa She Wong example--an MS64 Brown--which hammered for $19,000 in 2010. What is more, neither the James H. Stewart Lockhart, Åke Lindén, nor the Daniel Ching collections contained an example.
Absolutely captivating from a glance, longer inspection of the piece even with magnification offers little ground for complaint. The surfaces are clean and strikingly mark-free even for a Gem Mint State coin, with blazing mint red color along the reliefs meeting with soft cobalt touches both atop the devices and within the wider fields. Certainly a piece that abounds with eye appeal, and very likely among the finest, if not the finest, known.
Founded in 1893, the mint established at the provincial capital of Wuchang acquired machinery for the minting of milled copper Cash in 1902 (presumably from the Heatons), with the associated Hanyang Arsenal copper mint opening in 1905. Tai Ching Ti Kuo dies were first supplied from the Central mint in Tientsin in 1906. Wright records, in a transcript from the Royal Consulate in Changsha dated 4 February 1907, that by the following year, all minting technology was removed from the 3 branch mints in neighboring Henan and relocated to Hupeh, which thenceforth acted as the sole mint for both provinces. While the exact reasons for the short-term production of 20 Cash coins at the mint are less clear to us today, the famous Chinese monetary historian, Peng Xinwei, purports, based on records from the Ministry of Finance Coinage Office, that the 20 Cash only constituted around 2% of the total copper coinage supply in the Empire, and circulated primarily in the North as well as in the provinces of Hunan, Hupeh, and Kiangsi.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/china/china-hupeh-kuang-hsu-20-cash-cd-1906-ms65-red-and-brown-ngc-/a/3095-34023.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3095-12112021
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 15000-20000 USD