CHINA: Republic, AR medal, year 1 (1912), KM-X528, L&M-941, bust of General Chang Hsi-luan (Zhang Xiluan) in military uniform; "Giorgi" signature at lower right, reeded edge, zhí lì du du zhang above // zhong huá mín guó yuán nián above crossed Five-colored flags with Chinese characters above, tooling and repair in the obverse left field, which was done separately from the official post-striking effacing done to the characters on the reverse, attractive steel gray toning, an overall attractive example of this very rare medal, PCGS graded AU details, RR. We can find only one other example of this medal listed on CoinArchives since 2015, which was the Irving Goodman example that hammered for $130,000 USD in the Stack's Bowers & Ponterio Auction in Hong Kong in September 2021. Prior to that only 7 examples are shown on CoinArchives between 2008 and 2015. This makes our example only the second piece offered in public auction in the past 8 years.Zhang Xiluan (1843-1922) was a Chinese general of the late Qing Dynasty. Zhang joined the Hunan Army in 1864. He also served as the governor of Fengtian province beginning in 1913 and was the top military authority in Manchuria, being appointed Governor General of all Manchurian Provinces by Yuan Shikai. Zhang Xiluan also was acting Provincial Military Governor of Zhili (Chihli) Province from March 15 to September 8, 1912, when this medal was struck.

Estimate: USD 10000 - 15000