Friday, May 23, 2014

Dandan's Comments on Chinese Coins (6) - Fan Shaped Lunar Coins

I am going to discuss the basics of the fan shaped lunar gold and silver coins today.

In 2000, the People's Bank of China issued the first fan shaped gold and silver lunar coins – the fan shaped gold and silver Dragon. It was the first time for lunar coins to appear in the fan shape, and it was the second time for them to take on an irregular shape. Before that was the plum flower shaped lunars. Now the plum flower lunars are in the second round already. The second round of fan shaped lunars will start this year (2012 - translator), too.

Starting from 2000, a fan shaped set of 1/2 oz gold and 1 oz silver coins were issued annually. The mintages were 6,600 and 66,000 respectively. However, the surface area of the fan shape is relatively small, and so they were less popular than the round and plum flower shaped coins. They are among the relatively ignored types in the lunar series. The most expensive fan shaped silver coin, the Horse, is around 7,000 Yuan, which is lagging considerably behind forerunners in other lunar series. The major cause of this situation is its relatively low consumption as gifts. People are used to round silver coins. Although the fan shaped coins also weight 1 oz, its surface area is smaller than that of plum flower shaped or round coins. As gifts, the fan shaped coins do not appear striking or impressive. So fewer people buy fan shaped coins as gifts. Although there are collector and investor purchases, their lack of quick investment returns has left them hanging between the top and the bottom, always trying to catch up. The fan shaped Dragon was the first release among fan shaped lunars, but it somehow inherited the fate of most other first releases in the lunar series, that is, the first release of the series seldom turned out to be the price leader. Its price is not only a far cry from that of the leading Horse, but also much lower than that of Snake, which was issued one year later. This year marks the twelfth year of the release of fan shaped silver coins. The closing fan shaped Rabbit was expected to outperform, but it has been disappointing anyhow. Details were given in one of my previous posts: Fan Shaped Silver Rabbit, a Disastrous Closing Piece.

There was some good news for fan shaped gold and silver coins lately. Starting from the second round of fan shaped gold and silver coins, the first ones to be released at the end of this year, all the gold coins will be reduced from 1/2 oz to 1/3 oz, and the mintage will be expanded enormously. The mintage of the first round would appear much smaller in comparison. It is a pretty positive development for the first round, but it will not bring about significant changes in the short term. For the fan shaped gold and silver lunar coins to take off, passage of time and consumers' acceptance will be needed, as well as more marketing efforts, so that more people will know and appreciate them.

Collection index: 8
Investment index: 8



Thursday, May 15, 2014

Dandan's Comments on Chinese Coins (5) - Panda Coins with Added Words and Coin Expo Coins

http://club.pchome.net/thread_1_15_6648665_7__.html

I mentioned before that I would talk about the Coin Expo series, because this year's coin expo will be under way in a few days. Today a friend asked about the panda coin with added words for the Shanghai Gold Exchange. I may as well discuss the two together.

First let me explain what are pandas with added words. It is easy to understand literally. Chinese precious metal panda coins are one of the major five bullion coins in the world, but they are also special at the same time. I will explain why they are special in a little while (which he forgot - translator). Pandas with added words are based on the template of the panda coin of the year, with a line of words added on the rim or on the reverse, for example "20 Year Anniversary of the Shanghai Gold Exchange", "XX Years of the Capital Market", "Inauguration of the High Speed Railway" and so on. In short, the mint people are too lazy or too much pressed for time to have a specific design for the theme, and so they add a ring of words to the panda coins of the year. The Coin Expo series and the bank series were mostly pandas with added words. The Shanghai Gold Exchange coin soon to be released is also a panda with added words.

Now let's focus on the Coin Expo series. Yesterday someone mentioned that the black coin was an exotic wonder among the Coin Expo series. The Coin Expo series has been released at the annual Coin Expo up to now, which can be purchased with the admission ticket. The price has been very reasonable, largely because they are pandas with added words. The panda coin templates were not used in 2001 and 2002, though. Pandas with added words were reinstated starting from 2003, till it was phased out in 2007. Right from then on, the Coin Expo silver coin series started to pick up. Now we have three categories in the Coin Expo series. First, there were pandas with added words, from 1995 to 2006, with exceptions for 2001 and 2002. All these ten coins fall under pandas with added words in the Coin Expo series. The most expensive one is from 1995, for no other reason than its being the starter of the series. The second category covers those for the Coin Expos in 2001 and 2002. The design themes were the city landscape around the expo center where the Beijing Coin Expo was held: the International Trade Center for 2001 and something resembling flyovers for 2002, which was actually the logo for the Coin Expo of the year. Between these two, the 2001 coin is more expensive, which we call "exotic black coin". This coin for the first time employed the sulfuration technology. The technology is considered confidential, which I fortunately have no idea about. I would be in trouble if I knew it, because this should be a national secret. And it was also the first in this category. For both these reasons, the price moved up all along, especially after 2007. Why do I call 2007 a turning point? Because the third category in the Coin Expo series made its debut that year. From 2007, the theme of the Coin Expo coins switched to numismatic history of the world. The fifth coin in this theme from 2007 will be issued at this year's Coin Expo. (This post was written in 2012 – translator.) Starting from 2007, it gradually dawned on everyone that the Coin Expo silver coins would no longer be pandas with added words, and would become an excellent series with more and more themes added to it. In the last couple of years, the silver coins in the Coin Expo series have been growing steadily, breaking records slowly and continuously without much fanfare. The prices of the first panda with added words, the 1995 Coin Expo panda, and of the black coin from 2001 are very high now. In the category of numismatic history of the world, which started in 2007, the most expensive one was issued in 2010, with the price reaching 1,000 yuan, largely because it was issued with stamps. The cheapest one was from 2007. You may wonder why the first coin in the international numismatic history category is this cheap. The reason is very simple. The sale was very slow that year, and the China Gold Coin Inc. still has a large inventory. Every year it releases some of the inventory, which disrupts the growth of the coin. I mentioned above that 2007 was the turning point. Starting from that year, the Coin Expo coins have been taking off. The 2007 Coin Expo coin had a small release mintage, 30,000 in my memory. All these years, the China Gold Coin Inc. has been selling it at a low price, which is welcomed by consumers. Most importantly, it is the first in the third category of the Coin Expo series. It will have good growth in the future. The China Gold Coin Inc. released more of it recently. This time 2,000 were released nationally. Members (of the distributor network – translator) could buy the coin without any credit accumulation. It would be nice to buy one for collection. If you aim at investment, you can buy a whole sheet. Of course you need continuous serial numbers; otherwise they would not be different from loose ones. I am pretty sure you will see a nice return in the near future.


Collection Index:9
Investment Index:9

1995 Coin Expo Panda


2001 Coin Expo "Black Coin"


2007 Coin Expo Coin - Numismatic History of the World