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Hong Kong Signature Sale 3100 7-9 Jul 2022
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Heilungkiang. Kuang-hsü brass Specimen Pattern 50 Cents ND (1896) AU Details (Corrosion Removed) PCGS, Otto Beh Company (Esslingen) mint, KM-Pn1 (1903), L&M-586, Kann-584x (1903) = Shih-C16-1, WS-1094 = Chang Foundation-42 = Wenchao-1151 (rarity 5 stars), Hsu-Unl., Shanghai Museum-Unl., Shi Jiagan Collection-553, Top Chinese Coins (3rd ed.)-8. Reeded edge. Quite simply one of the most fantastic Pattern rarities of the Dragon Dollar series, known from an exceedingly small handful of surviving examples in both public and private collections. In addition to the examples now preserved in the Shanghai Museum (ex. Shi Jiagan Collection) and the Chang Foundation Collection (suggested by Wenchao to be in the Honghsi Art Gallery of Taiwan), we are aware of only the following specimens:
1) Champion Macau Auction (November 2020, Lot 65) - Certified AU55 by NGC
2) NC (Nelson Chang) Collection (Champion Macau Auction May 2021, Lot 37); Irving Goodman Collection (Superior June 1991, Lot 709) - Certified MS62 by NGC = Top Chinese Coins (3rd ed)-8 Plate Coin (illustrated on pg. 36) = L&M-586 Plate Coin
3) Norman Jacobs Collection (Baldwin's-Ma Tak Wo Auction 44, August 2008, Lot 169)
4) Cheng Xuan Autumn Auction (November 2019, Lot 3058) - Certified Specimen AU Details by PCGS
5) Spink China Auction 51 (August 2020, Lot 277) - Certified Specimen AU Details (Environmental Damage) by PCGS
6) Dai Baoting Collection = Shih-C16-1 Plate Coin = Kann-584x Plate Coin
7) Spink-Taisei Auction 3 (February 1988, Lot 144)
We would further note that the poor quality of the plates in Kann and Shih make a match with any more recently sold examples impossible, and that Kann possessed no example of this coin in his own collection. All known survivors demonstrate corrosion over both sides. Nonetheless, despite the efforts of a past owner to remove the corrosion spots from the present offering, this piece retains a superb luster and surface quality, certainly situating it above similarly designated survivors (see nos. 4 and 5 above), and perhaps suggesting a somewhat conservative assigned grade. Unquestionably an ideal target for all advanced Chinese provincial collectors, and one of a very select few available to commerce.
The northwesternmost of China's Three Eastern Provinces, Heilungkiang (Heilongjiang) had contemplated setting up its own provincial mint in the 1890s, following the astonishing success and rapid expansion of minting of machine-made silver dollars, based on the Kwangtung model. While we do not know the exact circumstances that went into offering the contract, it is now confirmed that a series of trials and dies were commissioned from Otto Beh in Esslingen, Germany, a specialist in seals and dies. Such pieces, however, were destined to remain only Patterns, as the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, together with Russia's invasion of Heilungkiang, Kirin, and Fengtien, coupled with Heilungkiang's vast geography and sparse population, led to an abandonment of the program.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/china/heilungkiang-province/china-heilungkiang-kuang-hsu-brass-specimen-pattern-50-cents-nd-1896-au-details-corrosion-removed-pcgs-/a/3100-34033.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3100-07072022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 20000-30000 USD
Heilungkiang. Kuang-hsü brass Specimen Pattern 50 Cents ND (1896) AU Details (Corrosion Removed) PCGS, Otto Beh Company (Esslingen) mint, KM-Pn1 (1903), L&M-586, Kann-584x (1903) = Shih-C16-1, WS-1094 = Chang Foundation-42 = Wenchao-1151 (rarity 5 stars), Hsu-Unl., Shanghai Museum-Unl., Shi Jiagan Collection-553, Top Chinese Coins (3rd ed.)-8. Reeded edge. Quite simply one of the most fantastic Pattern rarities of the Dragon Dollar series, known from an exceedingly small handful of surviving examples in both public and private collections. In addition to the examples now preserved in the Shanghai Museum (ex. Shi Jiagan Collection) and the Chang Foundation Collection (suggested by Wenchao to be in the Honghsi Art Gallery of Taiwan), we are aware of only the following specimens:
1) Champion Macau Auction (November 2020, Lot 65) - Certified AU55 by NGC
2) NC (Nelson Chang) Collection (Champion Macau Auction May 2021, Lot 37); Irving Goodman Collection (Superior June 1991, Lot 709) - Certified MS62 by NGC = Top Chinese Coins (3rd ed)-8 Plate Coin (illustrated on pg. 36) = L&M-586 Plate Coin
3) Norman Jacobs Collection (Baldwin's-Ma Tak Wo Auction 44, August 2008, Lot 169)
4) Cheng Xuan Autumn Auction (November 2019, Lot 3058) - Certified Specimen AU Details by PCGS
5) Spink China Auction 51 (August 2020, Lot 277) - Certified Specimen AU Details (Environmental Damage) by PCGS
6) Dai Baoting Collection = Shih-C16-1 Plate Coin = Kann-584x Plate Coin
7) Spink-Taisei Auction 3 (February 1988, Lot 144)
We would further note that the poor quality of the plates in Kann and Shih make a match with any more recently sold examples impossible, and that Kann possessed no example of this coin in his own collection. All known survivors demonstrate corrosion over both sides. Nonetheless, despite the efforts of a past owner to remove the corrosion spots from the present offering, this piece retains a superb luster and surface quality, certainly situating it above similarly designated survivors (see nos. 4 and 5 above), and perhaps suggesting a somewhat conservative assigned grade. Unquestionably an ideal target for all advanced Chinese provincial collectors, and one of a very select few available to commerce.
The northwesternmost of China's Three Eastern Provinces, Heilungkiang (Heilongjiang) had contemplated setting up its own provincial mint in the 1890s, following the astonishing success and rapid expansion of minting of machine-made silver dollars, based on the Kwangtung model. While we do not know the exact circumstances that went into offering the contract, it is now confirmed that a series of trials and dies were commissioned from Otto Beh in Esslingen, Germany, a specialist in seals and dies. Such pieces, however, were destined to remain only Patterns, as the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, together with Russia's invasion of Heilungkiang, Kirin, and Fengtien, coupled with Heilungkiang's vast geography and sparse population, led to an abandonment of the program.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/china/heilungkiang-province/china-heilungkiang-kuang-hsu-brass-specimen-pattern-50-cents-nd-1896-au-details-corrosion-removed-pcgs-/a/3100-34033.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3100-07072022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 20000-30000 USD