CHINA-ANHWEI 1898 One Dollar Silver, flat Chinese character "4" in date and small rosette, L&M204, Y45.2, K53a, NGC MS66. This coin is the highest graded coin, a good opportunity to obtain the finest. Very rare

The Anhwei Mint formerly located in the city of Anking was originally founded in the 23rd year of Kuang Hsu (1897). Initially this mint was established for the purpose of producing local silver coinage with the intent to replace the then popular 8 Reales. Clearly this goal was not achieved as the 8 Reals remained in circulation well into the 20th century. Anhwei Mint silver coinage generally remains scarce to rare, suggesting rather small mintages. This short lived mint produced coinage for approximately two years before coining operations ceased and the mint was dismantled. Perhaps the reason for the short lived nature of this mint was the lower purity metallic content of its silver emissions.

In June 2012, a group of China Qing Dynasty coin dies appeared in the Kunker auction which were all made by German Otto Beh Mint, including Fengtien, Heilungkiang, Chekiang, Sinkiang and Anhwei. But only Anhwei Province had made circulated silver coins, other provinces only pattern was made.

The Anhwei 1898 series are very interesting. Its date included two varieties Year 24rd and Year Wu Xu. And the Year 24rd variety also included two varieties, with "ASTC" and without "ASTC". Such differences in same series make lots of fans.

A PCGS MS64 sold in August 2012 Hong Kong sale for USD 143,400.

NGC MS66