Chihli (Pei Yang)

Possibly Unique Chihli Year 15 Pheonix Dollar

(t) CHINA. Chihli (Pei Yang). Silver Dollar Pattern, Year 15 (1889). Tientsin Mint. PCGS SPECIMEN-45 Gold Shield.

K-180; H.Chang-CH20 (Plate coin); Wenchao-1313 (different dies). Mexican Republic style herringbone edge. The obverse depicts the legendary Phoenix with spread wings and within beaded border, with the legend "Da qing guang xu shi wu nian cheng yang tian jin guan zao" (Officially made in Tientsin [during the] Qing [era] 15th year of Guang Xu) around; on the reverse, one reads "Yi yuan" (one Dollar) within an oval beaded border and a dragon around. This charming and wholly original looking survivor exhibits a decent strike with moderate signs of handling and nice, even wear consistent for the grade. The surfaces are toned a lovely soft gray with minor earthen deposits in the crevasses and amongst the devices and richer coloration in the protected areas. This handsome and EXTREMELY RARE early issue, off the market for many decades, represents a seldom occurrence whereby a numismatic item of this caliber becomes available and is sure to see spirited bidding from many advanced collectors. This perplexing issue has been quite the mystery, as early scholars of Chinese numismatics were aware of this type but knew very little about it. In fact, some early academics believed it to be a fantasy issue of some nature. The brilliant author Eduard Kann, who was an accepted expert and scholar in this field, was quite the skeptic when it came to unusual and out-of-the-ordinary issues; he believed that the present survivor likely a legitimate item produced at Tientsin. David Hartill, another scholar of Chinese numismatics, states that, at the date of purported manufacture, the Tientsin mint had begun striking copper coins by 1888. The machinery used was procured from Greenwood and Batley of Leeds for 27,000 Liang of silver. The western style minting equipment in use at this time proved to be inefficient and impractical. Ultimately, officials requested the discontinuance of use of this burdensome machinery. Then, in 1896, a proper mint was set up for the manufacture of silver specie. Another interesting aspect that should be taken into consideration is that the example plated in Wenchao (# 1313), under fantasy issues, is nearly an identical design, with the exception of slightly different legends, the most important of which is the place of manufacture as "Jiang su" rather than "Tian jin," as on the present piece. It should be mentioned that several other early issues of crude manufacture, namely those of Kweichow (L&M-603/607) and Shantung (L&M-587/588), are extant, and all were produced around the same time period. These crudely made issues, though different in design and place of manufacture, are all highly intriguing, deserving of further in-depth research from the specialist, and are certain to pique the interest of many collectors.

From the Pinnacle Collection.

Estimate: $ 50000 - 100000

獨一無二光緒十五年天津官造鳳前龍後一元樣幣

大清光緒十五年天津官造呈樣鳳前龍後一元樣幣。耿愛德《中國幣圖說彙考》和張璜《中國銀圓及銀兩幣》目錄書中原物。

墨西哥共和發行風格的人字邊。正面珠圈內有雙翼展開的瑞獸鳳凰，"大清光緒十五年天津官造"於外環圍繞；背面中心書"一元"，外有珠圈橢圓圍繞，龍樣在外。誘人且原味十足的一枚，鑄打匀稱，輕微經手痕跡，均勻磨損，與評級相符。表面呈柔美的灰色包漿，圖文間少許積土，底板深處色澤更濃。漂亮，版式稀少的早期發行，已多年未曾面市，如此 頂尖的珍品 本次公開呈獻甚是難得，預期拍賣場上將掀起激烈競投。 早期的中國錢幣學者早已發現此版，但是對此卻知之甚少。實際上，一些早期學者認為這是臆造發行。傑出作者耿愛德（Edward Kann）是此領域中公認的專家和學者，當遇到不尋常的版別時，總是抱懷疑態度。他認為，此枚珍品應是由天津造幣廠所鑄的真品。根據大衛-哈蒂爾（David Hartill）的說法，另一位中國錢幣學學者指出，在鑄製本枚樣幣的同期，天津鑄幣廠早已於 1888 年開始打鑄銅幣。所用的機械購自Greenwood and Batley of Leeds，並以 27,000 兩白銀重金購入。可惜，當時使用的西式鑄造設備效率低下且不切實際。最終，官方要求停止生產，並在 1896 年，設立合乎正式規格的造幣廠來生產銀幣。另一趣味之處是，同為臆造版別，Wenchao（＃1313）中的圖版原品是幾乎相同的設計，除卻銘文是"江蘇"字樣，而不是本品的"天津"字樣。 值得留意的是，當時早期尚有其他鑄幣廠的同款臆造幣，有貴州（L＆M-603 / 607）和山東（L＆M-587 / 588）版，都是在同一時期生產的。這些初期的樣幣，儘管設計和造幣廠有所不同，但都是值得專家進一步深入研究的趣味發行。