1 Yuan - Guangxu 'Silver cake'

The Kweichow "silver cake" dollars of 1888 occupy a peculiar place in Chinese provincial coinage. Kweichow was among the poorest and most isolated of the Qing provinces, with no modern mint machinery — these pieces were struck by hand using primitive methods, which accounts for their characteristically crude, chunky fabric. Kann catalogued only a handful of confirmed examples, and the type is regarded as one of the genuine rarities of the provincial series.

The "cake" designation refers directly to the thick, irregular planchet, a product of local silver-casting rather than rolled strip preparation.