200 Cash Szechuan-Shensi Soviet, retrograde hammer and sickle

The Szechuan-Shensi Soviet was established in late 1932 after Communist forces under Xu Xiangqian pushed into the Sichuan-Shaanxi border region, and this coinage was among the first material expressions of that territorial claim. Local copper was the only practical option — silver was scarce and controlled. The retrograde hammer and sickle is not damage or a collector curiosity; it is a known die-cutting error that the Soviet mint, operating under field conditions with limited skilled engravers, simply put into circulation regardless.