10 Cash Pattern, Founding of the Republic: Yuan Shikai, copper, thin rice stocks

Yuan Shikai seized the presidency of the new Republic in March 1912, and pattern coinage was struck almost immediately as the nascent government scrambled to establish a recognizable monetary identity distinct from Qing dynastic issues. This piece belongs to a small series of copper patterns produced in that first year, with the "thin rice stocks" variety distinguished from the broader rice stalk patterns by the fineness of the agricultural detailing — a distinction that generated multiple Hsu reference numbers across what are effectively die trials rather than separate issues.

Patterns of this type never entered circulation. Yuan's attention shifted rapidly to silver yuan coinage bearing his portrait, the issues that would dominate Republican-era currency through his short-lived imperial interlude of 1915–16.