2 Fen 5 Li - Guangxu Dragon without mountains

Sinkiang's copper coinage of the early twentieth century emerged from a region that was chronically cash-starved and administratively distant from Beijing. The provincial mint at Urumqi operated with irregular bullion supplies and limited technical oversight, producing runs that varied considerably in quality and completeness. This particular type — struck without the mountain symbols flanking the dragon that appear on related issues — reflects a die variant specific to certain production runs, catalogued separately as Y#B1 precisely because the distinction is numismatically and documentarily consistent.

Sinkiang copper from this period circulated alongside Russian, Chinese, and locally-struck silver in a genuinely polyglot monetary environment along the old Silk Road corridors.