50 Fen Pattern, proposed 'Junk dollar' type, type 1

The "Junk dollar" series was proposed in the late 1920s as part of a broader Nationalist government effort to displace the entrenched foreign trade dollars — particularly the Mexican peso and various Hong Kong issues — that still dominated commercial transactions across coastal China. Pattern strikes in multiple denominations were prepared and submitted for consideration around 1929, but the silver dollar version attracted the most debate, and the subsidiary denominations like this 50 fen piece never progressed beyond the pattern stage.

The copper-nickel composition aligns with contemporary proposals to rationalize China's fractional coinage, which remained a chaotic mix of provincial issues well into the Republican period.