2018-07-18 Wed

A rare 1899 Chinese Dragon dollar, graded MS 66 by NGC was sold for almost $440,000 during a Heritage sale on 28th and 29th June in Hong Kong. The coin was struck in 1898 or 1899 for Chekiang province when Kuang-hsu was the king.

Experts believe that Chekiang Mint started producing coins in 1896 but was later dismantled and shifted to Peking. Two more mints were established at Hangchow in 1903 and 1905 respectively. However, they were both closed down in 1906 and remained inactive for a long period.

In 1896, two lower denomination silver coins were struck. The offered coin was struck a few years later. It is the rarest of all ‘Dragon Dollar’ issues. It was a part of W&B Capital Collection and is one of only three examples to be certified. The only other known MS example is an MS-64 example graded by PCGS. Only three such coins have been spotted in the market since 2008. Two of them had chopmarks while the third showed graffiti damage. A VF Details (Chopmark) example was sold by Heritage in December 2017 for $55,000.

Image Courtesy: Heritage Auctions