2 Jiao 5 Fen / 1/4 Dollar - Xuantong

The Ta-Ching Government Bank was established in 1905 as the Qing dynasty's first modern central bank, granted authority to issue both paper currency and coinage. This quarter dollar belongs to a series authorized during Xuantong's reign — the child emperor Puyi, enthroned at age two — as the dynasty made its final, largely futile attempts to rationalize a hopelessly fragmented monetary system. The bank's coinage authority was effectively terminated when the Republic was declared in 1912, cutting the series short.

Kann #221 specimens show meaningful variation in die alignment and edge treatment across surviving examples.