Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Cash - Xuantong Pattern, copper
| Issuer | Empire of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1911 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central field displays the denomination '二十文' (20 Wen/Cash) in large Chinese characters, flanked on either side by a symmetrical laurel or grain wreath tied at the base. Surrounding the wreath, a circular legend in regular script (kaishu) reads the reign year 'Xuantong Year 3' (宣統三年) at the top and the monetary equivalency inscription '換枚十五幣銀圓一' (50 pieces to 1 silver Yuan) along the lower arc. The overall design is clean and centrally composed in a milled, proof-like style consistent with an official pattern strike. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Chinese (traditional, regular script) |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Produced in the final months of the Qing dynasty, this pattern was struck as the imperial government scrambled to modernize and centralize coin production — a project rendered immediately moot by the Wuchang Uprising of October 1911. Xuantong, the child emperor Puyi, was barely six years old when these trial pieces were being evaluated.
Hsu#32 documents a small survivor pool; patterns from this period were never approved for circulation, and most were either melted or dispersed as the dynasty collapsed within weeks of their striking.