Catalog
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| Issuer | Hunan Province |
|---|---|
| Year | 1902 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 28 mm |
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| Obverse description | Central field bears four large Chinese ideograms arranged in a cruciform pattern, reading top to bottom and right to left, with Manchu script characters occupying the centre. The entire arrangement is enclosed within a beaded inner circle, itself surrounded by a continuous outer legend of Chinese ideograms denoting the reign title, denomination, mint, and metal. The overall composition is symmetrical and characteristic of late Qing provincial coinage. |
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| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Hunan was among the last major provinces to establish a modern mint, opening its facility in Changsha only in 1897 — years behind Guangdong and the other early adopters. This piece is a pattern, meaning it never entered circulation; it represents one of several competing design proposals submitted as the province worked to standardize its coinage alongside imperial directives from Beijing. The placement of Manchu script at centre was not a neutral aesthetic choice — it signaled bureaucratic deference to Qing imperial authority at a moment when provincial minting autonomy was already a politically charged subject.