ABSTRACT OF CHINESE LUNAR ZODIAC COMMEMORATIVE COINS

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ABSTRACT OF CHINESE LUNAR ZODIAC COMMEMORATIVE COINS
By: Haomin Chen

The lunar zodiac also known as "symbolic animal", which is the Chinese nation's long and unique auspicious culture. It endows every Chinese child with an auspicious beast as his life symbol and accompanied his whole life, so it has always been cherished by the Chinese people.

In order to respond to people's love for the zodiac culture, the Chinese Mint has issued the Chinese lunar zodiac commemorative coins since 1981, which has been widely distributed and has never been interrupted in production. Chinese lunar zodiac commemorative coins have been issued for over 30 years. Many amazing coins have been issued and I would like to share with all of you in this article.

The first set of the lunar zodiac gold and silver commemorative coin

The lunar zodiac commemorative gold and silver coin issued from 1981 to 1992 are commonly known as "the first series of the Chinese lunar zodiac commemorative gold and silver coin". The obverse of the coins struck with famous Chinese tourist spots, for example: the Temple of Heaven，the Summer Palace, Zhengyangmen, the Imperial Palace, Yellow Crane Tower, the Great Wall, the Shanhai pass, the Yueyang Tower, Pavilion of Prince Teng and so on. These buildings are lively presented on the coins. For the reverse of the coins, it is featured with animal pattern designed by various Chinese artists such as Han Huang, Xu Beihong, Liu Jiyou, Qi Baishi and so on. Under the sculptor's fine carvings, the freehand brushwork and the vividness of the Chinese painting are presented in the coins, and collectors must have endless pleasure with the collection. Almost all the first round of the lunar zodiac commemorative coins are the masterpieces of the great masters. With exquisite design, perfect composition and unique national art features, these are the classic of the Chinese lunar zodiac coins.

This set of commemorative coin contains two kinds of material - gold and silver. The 8-gram gold coins consist of 91.6% pure gold (22K), and the 15-gram silver coins consist of 85-90% pure silver. The interesting point is, among all lunar zodiacs, only "Ox" is found to have different version of gold and silver coin. The denomination of ’Dog’ and ‘Tiger’ is different with other zodiacs, which are very rare.

The Second group of lunar zodiac commemorative gold and silver coins

In 1988~1999, China Gold Coin Incorporation issued a set of twelve Chinese lunar zodiac gold, silver and platinum coins, of which 1 ounce coin consist of three kinds of material - gold, silver and platinum.  For 5 ounces and 12 ounces coins, gold and silver. Most of the animal pattern on the coins are famous masterpieces, which increase the artistic value of the collection. The 1 ounces of silver is known as "thickening lunar zodiac" and has issued at least 6000pcs, while 1 ounce gold coins were 1800pcs, and only 300 pcs platinum coins were issued. The mintage of 5-ounce silver coin is usually 1000pcs, while only 99pcs for 5-ounce gold coins. The amount of 12 ounces silver coins is only 400~500pcs, and mostly the gold coin are 99pcs. From the perspective of artistic expression, the lunar zodiac series is not as good as the first series of Chinese lunar zodiac commemorative coins but it is more precious. In particular, the 5-ounce and 12-ounce series have always been favored by senior collectors because of the view of the positive scenic spots makes it look more beautiful. Different from the first series of the Chinese lunar zodiac, this series is made with higher than 99.9% pure gold, pure silver and pure platinum. It is mainly influenced by the orientation of the buyers in the same year. It also reflected that the Asian market has gradually replaced the European and American markets as the main sales area of the Chinese precious commemorative coins.

The Second set of the lunar zodiac commemorative golden and silver coins in plum shaped

The second issues of the Chinese lunar zodiac coin was issued in 1993~2004, with the plum blossom shape, which is commonly called " the lunar zodiac commemorative coin in plum shaped ". (Taiwan's collector is used to call it the "octagonal"). The animal pattern on this series of commemorative coin are mostly painted by famous artists. The mintage of silver coins is 6800pcs, and 2300pcs for gold coins. It is under the old and rare category of gold and silver coins. The gold coin contains pure gold 1/2 ounces, 1994 ~2000 year is 91.6% (22K), 1993 rooster year and 2001 ~2004 year is 99.9% (24K), (1993 rooster gold is 99.9% pure gold, but 91.6% is written on the certificate by mistake). In 1993 ~2000 silver coins were 2/3 ounces, 90% of pure silver, 1 ounces in 2001 ~2004, 99.9% of pure silver, and the changes in the specifications were due to the adjustment of the sales area, but they ignored the unity of the coins matching, which also the reason for the denounced by the collectors.

The star of the Chinese lunar zodiac is the 1 kilogram gold coin issued in 1995~2006. Most of them are taken from famous masterpieces and mintage only 15pcs. It is the rare series of the current Chinese lunar zodiac coins. its rare lineage and noble status have been established at the time of its appearance. Because of the large size, the previous casting pressure is insufficient for the first few coins due to the unsophisticated production condition. The craft is rough, but one flaw cannot obscure the splendor of the jade. This series is still a longing for the world's top collectors. The 2 kilograms and 10 kilograms of gold coins issued later were even bigger, but the buyer was less, and the mintage was larger than this round of kilogram gold coins.

Lunar zodiac is a major theme of gold and silver coins. It is so popular that it never stops issuing and is getting more and more diverse. Collectors usually feel confused and difficult to choose. It is suggested that collectors should selectively collected in combination with their own economic capacity. Above mentioned series are widely recognized by senior collectors. The patterns of these commemorative coins are carefully selected and finely carved. Quite a lot of famous masterpieces are amazing works. As for most of the later lunar zodiac gold and silver coins, it is difficult to avoid copying the suspicion of plagiarism. Most of them are born of business needs, and their artistic collecting value is quite different from the previous ones.