Kiangnan's 1898 dollar occupies an awkward position in Chinese provincial coinage — it was a pattern issue, never authorized for general circulation, produced at the Kiangnan Arsenal mint during the province's earliest experiments with Western-style milled coinage. The arsenal had only recently installed modern machinery, and these early strikes reflect the technical learning curve: die alignment and pressure were inconsistent across surviving pieces.
The KM#Pn1 designation confirms pattern status. Fewer than a handful of confirmed examples are known.
Kiangnan's 1898 dollar occupies an awkward position in Chinese provincial coinage — it was a pattern issue, never authorized for general circulation, produced at the Kiangnan Arsenal mint during the province's earliest experiments with Western-style milled coinage. The arsenal had only recently installed modern machinery, and these early strikes reflect the technical learning curve: die alignment and pressure were inconsistent across surviving pieces.
The KM#Pn1 designation confirms pattern status. Fewer than a handful of confirmed examples are known.