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Hong Kong Signature Sale 3108 21-23 Jun 2023
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China
Republic Sun Yat-sen silver Specimen Pattern 50 Cents Year 25 (1936) SP63 PCGS, San Francisco mint, KM-Pn170, L&M-116, Kann-633, Shih-D3-27, WS-0155. The first opportunity we have had to offer such an exceedingly rare piece. Lightly toned and sharp, this 1/2 Dollar is a survivor from the fleeting Pattern issues struck in the United States dating back to the War of Resistance times, where the Chinese were backed by the USA against the expanding Japanese forces. Hotly contested in any grade, it's certain this Choice specimen will garner the absolute attention of advanced Chinese type collectors.
Featuring the motif of the P'u (ancient spade coin) on the reverse that would become the trademark of the so-called "universal" series of the late Republic, both the 1936 and 1937 Sun Yat-sen coinage is now known to have been part of a more-or-less secret political program between the United States government and China aimed at artificially driving up the price of silver. Seeking to aid the Chinese in their resistance to the Japanese, the US had been buying up enormous amounts of Chinese silver following the outlawing of silver coins there in 1935. Official records document that on June 17, 1936, the Chinese Ministry of Finance elected to utilize 3 million ounces of this silver held on account in the US to produce silver Dollars, meant to be a token coinage of lesser intrinsic value, containing only 0.720 fineness. As revealed by "The True Story of China's 1936 and 1937 Silver Dollars" published in the Journal of East Asian Numismatics in 1995, an initial run of Pattern Dollars and Half Dollars were produced in either Philadelphia or Shanghai in 1936, with a later batch of coins--carrying the S mintmark--produced in San Francisco in 1938 (dated 1937) to a figure of around 10 million pieces. Contrary to the information relayed by Kann (Wright does not mention the S-signed Patterns), the 1937-dated coins were never shipped to Shanghai, but were almost entirely melted by the San Francisco mint, with the few pieces that survive today likely representing samples sent to mint officials in Shanghai.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/china/china-republic-sun-yat-sen-silver-specimen-pattern-50-cents-year-25-1936-sp63-pcgs-/a/3108-30084.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3108-06212023
HID02906262019
© 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 120000-140000 USD
Republic Sun Yat-sen silver Specimen Pattern 50 Cents Year 25 (1936) SP63 PCGS, San Francisco mint, KM-Pn170, L&M-116, Kann-633, Shih-D3-27, WS-0155. The first opportunity we have had to offer such an exceedingly rare piece. Lightly toned and sharp, this 1/2 Dollar is a survivor from the fleeting Pattern issues struck in the United States dating back to the War of Resistance times, where the Chinese were backed by the USA against the expanding Japanese forces. Hotly contested in any grade, it's certain this Choice specimen will garner the absolute attention of advanced Chinese type collectors.
Featuring the motif of the P'u (ancient spade coin) on the reverse that would become the trademark of the so-called "universal" series of the late Republic, both the 1936 and 1937 Sun Yat-sen coinage is now known to have been part of a more-or-less secret political program between the United States government and China aimed at artificially driving up the price of silver. Seeking to aid the Chinese in their resistance to the Japanese, the US had been buying up enormous amounts of Chinese silver following the outlawing of silver coins there in 1935. Official records document that on June 17, 1936, the Chinese Ministry of Finance elected to utilize 3 million ounces of this silver held on account in the US to produce silver Dollars, meant to be a token coinage of lesser intrinsic value, containing only 0.720 fineness. As revealed by "The True Story of China's 1936 and 1937 Silver Dollars" published in the Journal of East Asian Numismatics in 1995, an initial run of Pattern Dollars and Half Dollars were produced in either Philadelphia or Shanghai in 1936, with a later batch of coins--carrying the S mintmark--produced in San Francisco in 1938 (dated 1937) to a figure of around 10 million pieces. Contrary to the information relayed by Kann (Wright does not mention the S-signed Patterns), the 1937-dated coins were never shipped to Shanghai, but were almost entirely melted by the San Francisco mint, with the few pieces that survive today likely representing samples sent to mint officials in Shanghai.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/china/china-republic-sun-yat-sen-silver-specimen-pattern-50-cents-year-25-1936-sp63-pcgs-/a/3108-30084.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3108-06212023
HID02906262019
© 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 120000-140000 USD