2016-02-16 Tue

One of the most mysterious Chinese coins, the circa 1912 “Big Beard” dollar, highlights the Champion Coin Auctions’ sale which was scheduled in Macau on December 6th. Experts don’t know for certain where or when it was made, who ordered it, or even who it depicts, according to Bruce W. Smith’s description in the auction catalogue.

Research by Smith suggests the coin was struck at the Soochow (Suchou) Mint around 1912 and shows Yuan Shih-kai, the Chinese general who became the first president of the new Chinese Republic on 11th December 1915.

The coin is similar to the Sun Yat-sen and Li Yuan-hung dollars made in 1912 for the establishment of the republic. In the centre of the coin is a facing portrait of a bearded man, in a double circle.

Other elements copy the 1911 Dragon dollar, which was struck at Tientsin, Wuchang and Nanking. Four Chinese characters appear at the top (Chung Hua Min Kuo), meaning “Republic of China,” and five characters (K’ai Kuo Chi Nien Pi) at the bottom, meaning “Coin Commemorating the Founding of the Country.”

According to Smith, since the 1950s the “Big Beard” portrait has been incorrectly identified as depicting Ch’eng Te-ch’uan, who was governor of Kiangsu Province during 1910 and 1911 under the Ch’ing dynasty government, and military governor of Kiangsu during 1911 to 1913 under the Republic.

Smith cites research published in a 1915 magazine that shows that one of the two mints in Soochow had prepared to make silver dollars in 1908, late in the reign of Manchu emperor Kuang Hsu who ruled from 1875 to 1908. A medal with the Big Beard portrait was created in 1911 or 1912 at a refurnished Soochow Mint inside the city limits.

A 1993 article by Ma Chuande, based on research by his father, Ma Dingxiang, showed that the portrait is actually of Yuan Shih-kai. Ma’s article in English appeared in the June 21, 1993, edition of World Coin News.

The coin is graded About Uncirculated 58 by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. and has an estimate of $180,000 to $360,000.