(t) CHINA. Chekiang. Brass 7 Mace 2 Candareens (Dollar) Pattern, Year 23 (1897). Esslingen (Otto Beh) Mint. Kuang-hsu (Guangxu). PCGS Genuine--Repaired, Unc Details.
L&M-271 (this coin illustrated); K-Unlisted; cf. KM-56 (silver); cf. WS-1012A (unlisted composition, rarity: ★★★★★). It is rather difficult to express the STUNNING RARITY of this tantalizing and historically important pattern crown, as it may in fact be UNIQUE. Similar to other provinces, such as Anhwei and Fengtien, Chekiang had some rather elusive off-metal patterns struck in the waning years of the 20th century, as their fledgling foray into the output of "Dragon Dollars" and their minors was at its dawn. However, such patterns for Chekiang stand as the most formidable of challenges. Similar to the next lot, examples are simply not encountered in the marketplace. The Norman Jacobs example of a Chekiang brass pattern-- the smallest denomination in the series, as the "3.2 Candareens" error --realized the then -lofty hammer of $24,000 in August 2008, attesting to the intrigue that it created. Given the immense change within the market of the vintage Chinese series in the decade-and-a-half since, and the fact that this crown-- the capstone denomination and one that is plated in the newest edition of L&M --offers so much history and boundless appeal, it is difficult to fathom the heights which it could attain when crossing the auction block. The recent discovery of production material has shone new light on the creation of this coinage. Such findings included patterns, dies, hubs and a series of punches from the archives of the Otto Beh company in Esslingen, Germany. Before this, the origin of the dies used to produce coinage for the provinces of Anhwei, Chekiang, Fengtien, Heilungkiang and Sungarei was only speculated upon. Otto Beh was a specialist in the production of seals and dies. From neighboring Goppingen, Louis Schuler received an order for coining presses in 1895 and commissioned Otto Beh to manufacture the dies. In 1897 and 1898, Beh supplied Schuler with over 200 dies for Chinese coins. At the time, this was the largest order that the company had ever received. Schuler, which started as a Locksmith's shop in 1839, had grown to become one of the world's leaders in metal forming and, in fact, supplied the aforementioned mints with coining presses.
From the KL Collection.

光緒二十三年浙江省造光緒元寶七錢二分黃銅樣幣。德國拜赫廠。
使用德國埃斯林根 (Esslingen) Otto Beh公司提供的模具打鑄。筆墨難以言喻的稀世之珍，極具歷史意義的一枚樣幣，或是孤品。就如其他省份如安徽、奉天的樣幣，浙江也有若干異質樣幣鑄於20世紀末，當時正逢龍洋初露頭角，輔幣即將迎來晨曦。然而，這些浙江樣幣是最難尋覓的版別。此版樣幣幾乎不會現身市面，下一拍品亦是如此。Norman Jacobs舊藏中的浙江"3.2 Candareens"錯拼黃銅樣幣是該系列中面值最小的一枚，在2008年8月以24,000美元高價落槌。在過去十五年間，中國錢幣市場發展蓬勃，本拍品貴為七錢二分，更是最新版L&M目錄中的圖版幣，不但極具魅力，更蘊含歷史價值，其落槌價格難以想象。近年發現的鑄造物料如樣幣、模具、二元模以及一系列來自德國 Otto Beh 公司的存檔製模冲頭闡明了此錢幣的生產。此前，對安徽、浙江、奉天、黑龍江、新疆幾省鑄幣模具母版的來源猜想紛紜，但始終是個迷團。Otto Beh是一間專精壓印鑄模的公司。1895年，在距埃斯林根不遠的格平根 (Goppingen) 居住的路易斯-舒勒 (Louis Schuler) 收到一筆鑄幣機的訂單，於是他委託Otto Beh製作模具。在1897年和1898年間，Beh為Schuler提供了200多個用於中國錢幣的模具。這是當時該公司所接到最大的訂單。舒勒於1839年開鎖匠鋪起家，後逐步發展為世界最大的金屬加工供應商，為上述省份的鑄幣廠提供模具。

Estimate: $200000.00- $400000.00