5 Fen Pattern, 'Fat Man dollar' type, copper

The "Fat Man dollar" takes its name from the rotund portrait of Yuan Shikai that appeared on the 1914 silver dollar series — a design so unflattering that it became the coin's enduring nickname. This copper 5 fen piece is a pattern struck in anticipation of a decimal coinage reform that Yuan's government was actively pushing through in the early Republican period, as the new administration sought to replace the chaotic mixture of provincial cash coins and foreign trade dollars still dominating daily commerce.

Patterns of this type rarely escaped the mint in quantity. Kann's documentation of this piece as #815x — the "x" suffix denoting an unconfirmed or variant specimen — suggests even specialist researchers have handled very few examples.