100 Yuan Panda

The 1996 issue marks a transitional moment in the Panda bullion program: beginning that year, the People's Bank of China shifted the weight standard for the large silver Panda from troy-based to metric, moving to a full 12 troy ounces for this denomination. Mintages for the oversized silver issues were kept deliberately low throughout the mid-1990s, as the primary market was Japanese collectors, whose appetite for large-format Chinese silver had been cooling since the early 1990s bubble collapse.

KM#899 is occasionally confused with the proof-only issues from adjacent years. The 1996 is a business-strike proof, not a separate proof release.