1 Yuan - Guangxu 'Silver cake'

Kweichow's silver coinage of this period occupies a peculiar corner of Chinese provincial numismatics. The province lacked a proper modern mint and the equipment to produce milled coinage, so these pieces were struck using rudimentary machinery — hence the "silver cake" designation, which describes both the shape and the crude, uneven edge that distinguishes them from the machine-struck issues coming out of Canton or Beiyang at the same time. Production was limited and apparently short-lived, the provincial authorities abandoning the experiment before any significant quantity entered circulation.

Kann 12 and 13 differ in minor die details; both are scarce, but 13 is the harder find.