2 Qian Bullion coinage, Hunan Branch of The Imperial Bank

The Imperial Bank of China, established in 1897 as the country's first government-chartered bank, operated a network of provincial branches empowered to issue their own silver bullion pieces in the final years of the Qing dynasty. The Hunan branch pieces from 1908 were struck just three years before the Xinhai Revolution dissolved the imperial system entirely, making branch-specific issues like this one administratively short-lived.

Kann 970 is among the less frequently encountered branch denominations, Hunan's geographic remove from the major coastal minting centers likely contributing to lower surviving populations.