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CHINA-YUNNAN 1919 Tang Chi Yao $5 Gold NGC MS62

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CHINA-YUNNAN 1919 Tang Chi Yao 5 Dollars Gold, With Numeral 2 Below Flags, Y481, Kann 1527, NGC MS62. Thanks to a discovery in the British Museum, we can now publish for the first time anywhere the solution to the mystery of the numerals below the flags on these Tang Chi-yao coins. In the June 1921 issue of the New China Review, the famous collector of Chinese coins, A. M. Tracey Woodward, published an article on the coins issued by Yunnan Governor Tang Chi-yao. While this article contains many interesting details and notes that there are several die varieties of both the $5 coin and the $10 coin, it does not offer an explanation for the numerals or the lack of a numeral on some $10 coins. Closely reading the annual Chinese Customs Reports, we find that these gold coins were issued because the unusual rise in the value of silver had prevented silver supplied from reaching Yunnan. As gold was plentiful in the province, Tang decided to issue gold coins valued in terms of silver dollars. The $10 coin was issued first, in October 1919. A $5 coin was to be issued but was delayed until early the following year. Why was the coin delayed? A set of these coins was donated to the British Museum in 1935 along with a note providing the answer. After the $10 coin was issued, someone stole the dies from the mint. New dies were then prepared, stamped with a numeral 1 or 2 to show they were genuine mint products. Because the $5 was not issued at the same time as the $10, the $5 die without the numeral was never used. When coins were struck with the new dies (containing the numeral) early in 1920, whoever stole the $5 die realized he could never use it because the authorities would trace the fake coins back to him and know he had stolen the die. This is why there is no $5 without numeral. This also explains why the $10 without numeral is much scarcer than the $10 with the numeral - the coin without numeral was only made for a few months at the end of 1919, while the coin with the numeral was struck during most of 1920. At the time of their issue, these coins were only worth $4 and $8 in terms of silver, but by December 1920, the relative value of gold and silver had changed, and the coins were suddenly worth $8 and $16. Large numbers of them were melted during 1921, especially after another warlord forced Tang out of the province that year. We can estimate how many of each denomination were originally issued. All the reports mention that there were far more $10 coins in circulation than $5 coin. This makes sense, since the mint made a greater profit on the $10 coin. According to reports, $9 million worth of $10 coins were produced, which would be 900,000 pieces. The amount of $5 coins issued is reported in some places to have been $1 million, while in other places it is reported as $300,000. This would give a mintage of 60,000 to 200,000 pieces. What we don't know is how many coins were melted during 1921 and since that time.

NGC MS62

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