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1 Yuan / 1 Dollar Pattern, Founding of the Republic: Yuan Shikai, copper
| Issuer | Republic of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Luigi Giorgi |
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| Obverse description | Uniformed bust of Yuan Shikai facing forward, wearing a tall plumed military hat adorned with a central star. The effigy depicts him in full military dress with epaulettes and a prominent star-shaped decoration on the chest. The portrait is rendered in high relief with fine detail, characteristic of Luigi Giorgi's medallic engraving style. The field is smooth and the coin is bordered by a continuous beaded rim. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 幣念紀和共國民華中 壹 圓 ONE DOLLAR (Translation: Founding commemorative coin of the Republic of China 1 Yuan) |
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| Additional information |
Yuan Shikai's dollar series of 1914 was the product of a deliberate centralization effort — his government contracted the Cranfield & Co. engravers via the Tianjin Mint to produce a unified national coinage that would displace the chaotic provincial issues still circulating across China. Patterns were struck in multiple metals to evaluate the design before silver production began in earnest. The copper examples were never intended for circulation; they exist as approval pieces from the approval and rejection cycle that preceded the issued coinage.
The silver "Yuan Shikai dollar" went on to become arguably the dominant trade coin in Republican China for decades. This copper pattern did not.