1 Yuan - Guangxu 7 Mace and 3 Candareens

The Kwangtung Mint's 1889 dollar-weight issue was among the first machine-struck silver coins produced in China, manufactured on imported British presses and supervised in part by foreign technicians. Viceroy Zhang Zhidong had pushed for the Guangzhou facility precisely to counter the dominance of foreign trade dollars — particularly the Mexican peso — that had long served as the de facto currency of South China's commerce. The "7 Mace and 3 Candareens" denomination was deliberately calibrated to match the Mexican dollar's weight, though the 10% alloy discount versus pure silver gave merchants grounds to discount it anyway.

Early die workmanship on this type shows inconsistencies in the pearl border spacing, a known characteristic of the first production runs.