 |
| Yuan Shih Kai Dollar |
 |
| Chinese Silver Dollar |
Chinese coins, Chinese currencies, Chinese silver dollars, Chinese silver dollar coins, Chinese Numismatics
Obverse: Uniformed bust of the first President of the Republic of China General Yuan Shih Kai left. Six characters above.
Reverse: Chinese characters (denomination) within wreath.
Mint Place: Tiensin, Nanking or Wuchang.
Reference: Kann 646, L&M 63, KM-Y#329.
Weight: 26.71 gm, Diameter: 39 mm
YSK dollar - The Yuan Shih Kai Dollar - the most widely circulated coin in China.
Christmas eve, in A.D.1914, was the date on which the Yuan Shih Kai dollar was officially issued for the first time. Since then it has made enormous strides and is fulfilling its mission to replace not only the Mexican and other foreign dollars, but also the heterogeneous collection of Chinese dragon dollars. After an existence of ten years the Yuan Shih Kai dollar has penetrated to even the most out-of-the-way place of China's outlying provinces, and bids fair to remain in popular favor throughout the vast country.
However, the coining of the new Yuan Shih Kai dollar was closely connected with the withdrawal and re-minting of the existing 280 million dragon dollars, the fineness of which was considerably below the new standard, In order to facilitate the introduction of the new coin the Goverment arranged that the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications and the official provincial banks should exchange, free of charge, the old dragon dollars against the new Yuan Shih Kai dollars. During the period from 1914 to July 1917, about 30 million Mexican dollars were exported from China, and in addition 19 millions were melted by the Mints for re-coinage. Both these measures continued in an extened form during the following five years, thus making room for the new Yuan Shih Kai dollar which, by 1919, had succeded in firmly establishing itself.
......and the dies were distributed by the Tientsin (Central) Mint to the various provinces. In the course of time the dies were worn and had to be either retouched or re-engraved. In this way it happened that many varieties of the Yuan Shih Kai dollar came into being. ......it can be stated that, until the end of 1917, altogether 184,946,487 Yuan Shih Kai dollars have been struck by the Mints in China.