1 Sar Type 2

Sinkiang — today's Xinjiang — operated its own network of mints largely cut off from central Qing and early Republican monetary administration, producing coins to local weight standards that bore little relation to the national currency system emerging in coastal China. The sar was a regional unit tied to the tael system, and production continued past the 1911 revolution with minimal interruption precisely because Urumqi and the provincial mints answered to whoever held local power, not Beijing.

Y#42a distinguishes this type from the first sar issue by specific design and die characteristics documented in Krause. The provincial silver of this period is frequently encountered with adjustment marks and uneven surfaces reflecting the rudimentary minting infrastructure operating at altitude, far from central supervision.