10 Yuan 10th Anniversary of Panda Coinage

The 1991 Panda marks a decade since the bullion panda series launched in 1982, and the People's Bank of China issued this one-ounce piece specifically to commemorate that anniversary rather than as a routine annual release. The Chinese panda program was itself a deliberate response to the success of South Africa's Krugerrand and the American Eagle concept — a state-controlled bullion vehicle aimed squarely at international collector and investor markets during a period when China was aggressively expanding its hard-currency revenue streams.

The 1991 issue was struck at the Shenzhen Guobao Mint. Mintage was tightly controlled relative to standard annual issues, and the anniversary designation made it an immediate target for set builders completing the first ten years of the series.