Rare Oriental coin: 1923 Chinese dollar sold at auction

Eastern numismatics is of great interest to collectors – several categories on Violity are devoted to This direction. For 81,650 hryvnias, an interesting coin was purchased at the auction – Chinese dollar of Cao kun, President of the Republic of China from October 10, 1923 to October 30, 1924. Thus, the country's leader held office for just over a year.

In the era of the militarists, Cao kun was a very prominent figure, an outstanding military commander, and a member of the Zhili clique of Northern militarists. This anti-Japanese faction of the Beiyang government was involved in a conflict with another group, the fengtian clique, which carried out political actions in favor of Japan.

Cao kun came to power, forcing the previous President, Li Yuanhong, to resign. Cao was later betrayed by one of his generals, Feng Yuxiang, and subsequently captured. The General sympathized with the rival fengtian clique and was loyal to the sun Yat-sen government and the Kuomintang. To enlist the support of Feng Yuxiang, the Japanese government issued a grant of 1.5 million yen-it hoped to remove the anti-Japanese Zhili clique from power. And Feng Cao was forced to resign.

After coming to power in 1923, Cao ordered a series of commemorative coins to mark the beginning of his reign, as well as the adoption of the 1923 Constitution. There are two main design options: some coins depict the President in military uniform (kann-678), while others show the country's leader in civilian clothes (kann-677). These specimens are very rare and extremely highly valued by collectors. Silver dollars were minted in 1923-1924, most in 1923. This short period of time was the reason for the small number of coins. Minting was carried out at the Tianjin Mint.

The shape of the coin is round, the weight is 26.93 g, the diameter is 39 mm. the dollar contains 0.9 g of pure silver. At the same time, the denomination and date are not indicated on the coins. The auction sold a version in which the President is depicted in military uniform. On the obverse is a bust of Cao kun, on the reverse are two crossed flags surrounded by six five-pointed stars. The army flag of the Republic of China (or the flag of the Wuchang rebellion) is placed on the left, and the five-color flag of the Republic of China is placed on the right. The inscription in Chinese, located from top to bottom, translates as "memorable". The "JI" symbol is displayed above, and the "Nyan" symbol is displayed below the flags. At our auction, this coin was sold for the first time, in the territory of Ukraine, such instances are almost not found due to their rarity.