The Transitional Coinage
| I post below is an email received from MR. T. Lei of Washington, U.S.A. on Sun, 20 Feb 2000. The email is self-explanatory Hello Mr. Leung My name is T. Lei and I live in Seattle Washington. Last month I took my 1 year old son back to China for the Chinese year, one of my friend give him a Red envelop with some coins. I identify most of them on your page, but 2 of them I can find anything about it. Would you help me out? Thank you in advance! During the later Qing dynasty, the coinage of the ancient copper coins had been suspended in most of the provinces in China. The Mint masters found that they could not cast the tranditional cash coins economically, they stopped casting and engaged in another kind of circular coin struck by machinery without a square hole in the centre. It was known as "T'ung Yuan" [  copper coin], or "T'ung Hsien" [ copper cent] and or "Tung Pan" [ copper plate] Each one is equivalent to ten cash. Later, there were also denominations of 1, 2, 5, 20, and 30 cash. Copper Coin was first minted in Kwangtung province in the 26th years of the "Kwang Hsu" reign (1900AD).
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Extremely Rare A ~ Very Rare B ~ Rare C ~ Not So Many D ~ Common E
| Obverse | Reverse | Description |
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No. 326 |
| Diam. ? mm | ||
| Wt. ? g. | ||
| Mint Evolution and Peculiarity | Rareness E | |
| This is a ten cash Hu-Peh Dragon Copper coin, minted in Wuchang Mint [Hupeh Silver Coin Bureau] of Hupeh Province between 1903 to 1905. Coins of this type [Chinese Copper Ten Cash Coin] exist in many varieties; normally only the major types can be listed in the catalogs. As I know that there are about eight types of Hepeh Provincial Copper Ten Cash coin. Obverse: Four Chinese characters (Kuang Hsu Valuable Coin) and a rosette inside beaded circle in centre: in the outer circle, Chinese [made in Hupeh Province] above, [Ten Cash] below; two Manchu characters [Board of Revenue] on each side of the center in the outer circle. Reverse: Front view dragon [Front view dragon was introduced about 1902, this type of dragon was not used by many mints. The dragon is usually uncircled and has few clouds around its body. There is a tiny mountain under the cloud beneath the fireball.] flying in clouds in center; "HU-PEH PROVINCE" above, "TEN CASH" below; small rosettes right and left. | ||
| Obverse | Reverse | Description |
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 | No. 327 |
| Diam. ? mm | ||
| Wt. ? g. | ||
| Mint Evolution and Peculiarity | Rareness E | |
| The coinage of copper coins went on until the beginning of the Republic Period. This copper coin was minted by Taiyuan Mint of Shensi Province in 1918. [may be 1919] Obverse: The official design of iron-and-blood 18-star flag and the five-colour flag crossed within circle in center. In the outer circle, the above Chinese characters means Copper Coin of the Republic of China and the below characters is the denomination of 10 cash. Right and left, large five-petalled resettes. Reverse: In the center two big Chinese characters [One piece] enclosed in an open wreath of grain binding with short ribbon. [Rarer specimens with long ribbon are also existed.] This is a common copper coin. | ||
More about Copper Coin I in Chinese Coinage
More about Copper Coin II
