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1 Dollar Chinese Unicorn
| Issuer | Sierra Leone |
|---|---|
| Year | 1999-2000 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A highly detailed depiction of the Chinese qilin (unicorn), a mythical auspicious creature of Chinese tradition, is shown in a prancing stance at centre, its body covered in elaborate scales and its head adorned with a dragon-like mane and single horn. A decorative inner border of triangular motifs frames the central device. The year 2000 appears to the right of the creature in the field. Four Chinese characters arcing along the upper legend read 金盛祈福, and the denomination $1 is inscribed at the bottom of the field in Latin script. |
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| Additional information |
Sierra Leone's late-1990s bullion and collector series was produced almost entirely for the export market — these coins never meaningfully circulated domestically in a country then sliding toward the worst phase of its decade-long civil war. The Chinese Unicorn dollar belongs to a category of issues where the issuing nation's name is largely incidental, with production and distribution handled entirely by outside minting agencies targeting Asian collector markets.
The qilin motif was a deliberate commercial calculation aimed at Hong Kong and mainland Chinese buyers in the years immediately surrounding the 1997 handover.