10 Yuan Panda

The 1989 Panda gold series was the first year the People's Bank shifted to annually changing designs, abandoning the fixed reverse used from 1982 through 1988. That decision, intended to drive collector demand, worked — it created an immediate secondary market and transformed the series from a bullion product into a date-specific collectible almost overnight.

KM#223 corresponds to the Temple of Heaven reverse, consistent with the obverse for this date. Dies were produced domestically at the Shenzhen and Shanghai mints, which accounts for the minor surface texture differences sometimes observed between otherwise identical pieces.