Coins in the News

Legendary 1910 Chinese Dragon Dollar Could Bring More Than 1 Million at Heritage Auctions

According to the 17th August 2011 Art Daily Story:

Legendary 1910 Chinese Dragon Dollar Could Bring More Than $1 Million at Heritage Auctions
"This enigmatic issue is one of China's rarest coins, with only two genuine pieces known," said Warren Tucker, Vice President of World Coins at Heritage.
BEVERLY HILLS, CA.- The legendary 1910 Chinese Dragon Dollar, called the Yunnan Spring Dollar in reference to the four Chinese characters that translate to "Spring 1910" on its reverse, could bring in excess of $1,000,000 as part of Heritage Auctions Sept. 8-9 Long Beach Signature(r) World & Ancient Coins Auction, at the Long Beach Convention Center.
"This enigmatic issue is one of China's rarest coins, with only two genuine pieces known," said Warren Tucker, Vice President of World Coins at Heritage. "It's been a coin of mystery and legend since its discovery around 1920. Despite near constant research in Chinese numismatics, time has yielded no definite reason or meaning for the term 'Spring 1910.'"
The first genuine example of this issue to appear at public auction was sold in Beijing, in April 2002, at the Hua Chen auction. That same piece later sold in a Cheng Xuan sale, also in Beijing, in 2007 where it brought 3,192,000 RMB (US$468,000).
Michael Chou, of Champion Hong Kong Auction, then sold it - now certified AU55 by NGC - for the astounding price of US$1,035,000, in August 2010 in Hong Kong.
The piece that Heritage is offering is the second known example of the Yunnan Spring Dollar and the finest of the two known. The coin has been exhaustively researched, graded and certified AU58 by NGC. The piece is from the exact same dies as the other coin, as both NGC and Michael Chou have attested to.
"We feel, if anything, that the grading by NGC is a bit conservative on this piece as Heritage graders noticed no circulation on the coin," said Cristiano Bierrenbach, Vice President of International Numismatics at Heritage. "This coin is truly one of China's great numismatic treasures and not likely to show up again for possibly a few generations."
This coin will be offered by Heritage along with several hundred other choice and rare Chinese coins, and approximately 5,000 world and ancient coin lots. Bidding on the coins opens online in mid-August.
Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world's third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $700 million, and 600,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com.

2012 / 2013 Chinese Year of the Dragon Coins
Next year's (2012 - 2013) Chinese Lunar Calendar coins are also expected to by popular and in high demand from collectors and investors. The Year of the (Water) Dragon starts on 13th January 2012, and runs until 9th February 2013, after which it is the turn of the snake or serpent.
It is not only China that issues coins featuring the Chinese Lunar Calendar, a number of other countries and mints issue them in different metals, weights and sizes, both for collectors and investors. We also find that many people like them as quality gift items.
Among the most popular Lunar Calendar issues are those by the Perth Mint for Australia, which produces superb quality bullion coins in gold and silver each year, along with proof versions also.
The Perth Mint are now on their second Lunar Calendar series, and we know that the most popular of the twelve zodiac symbols from the first series was the dragon, which is in any case, the most auspicious of the delightful dozen.