Republic Sun Yat-sen nickel Specimen Pattern 20 Cents Year 24 (1935) SP66 PCGS, Philadelphia mint, KM-Pn144, Kann-831, Shih-F1-1, Hsu-3, Shanghai Museum-771. By Clifford Hewitt. A gorgeous, if very austerely designed, Pattern that would come to inaugurate China's so-called "universal" series, establishing the nation's first successfully implemented decimal nickel coinage. Following a monetary reform of November 3, 1935, these new issues, produced as Patterns in Philadelphia in denominations of 5, 10, and 20 Cents, were first introduced for general circulation by the Shanghai mint in January 1936--finding great success due to their uniform design, fineness, and weight. Both Kann and Shih record that supposedly just 11 of these three-coin Philadelphia-minted sets were sent to Nanking for approval by the Chinese Ministry of Finance. While certified figures suggest that greater numbers than this survive (an example also exists in the Smithsonian, no. 2017.0060.1337), only a very small handful have appeared on auction, with just one other tying this specimen in peak-graded condition at PCGS. For comparison, the Jacobs piece only certified at an MS63; while it is possible that such collections as Goodman (lot 1223, ex. Von Halle) or Daniel Ching (lot 661, which contained a full 3-coin set, the 5 Cents of which later certified at MS66) may have contained a comparable condition example, we have been unable to confirm that their specimens have since been certified. In any case, the present offering undoubtedly stands as a top-tier survivor, worthy of even the most discerning collections.

HID09801242017

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