Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The Journey of the Chinese Classical Garden Series of Medals

By Lei Ting
(This article was written by Lei Ting, who is one of the organizers of the Chinese Classical Garden series of medals. Pictures of Yuanmingyuan and Lan Ting are provided in the article.)

1.   Yuyuan

Before the end of 2012, I ran across a PF69 Yuyuan silver medal on eBay. I was awed by the exquisite design and detailed engraving of the pavilion and hall on it. Its piedfort 2 oz size intrigued coin collectors like me with its weighty feeling in hands. I became strongly interested in the medal. However, searching through books and reference data yielded no information on its background. The only fact known was that it was released by Shanghai Mint. I went to Shanghai Mint with Mr. Cai Xiaoping several times to investigate. Answers were finally found in the thick, dust covered dossier in the Document Room of Shanghai Mint. It turned out that the Yuyuan medal was a piece designed and engraved during 2001-2002 by Mr. Yu Min, the winner of Best Crown Coin Award by Krause, when Shanghai Mint experimented with high relief small size coins and medals. A few patterns were made for collecting metrics and data. Afterwards, the patterns were destroyed, and the dies locked up with no further follow-up actions. Fast-forward to 2009. To celebrate the Shanghai Expo, the Mint recalled this piece of delicate artwork which is representative of China as well as local Shanghai characteristics. This led to the release of the Yuyuan medal, with a mintage of 2,010 pieces.

2.Lan Ting

By the end of 2012, as the collector group of Yuyuan silver medal steadily grew and met to talk about it, we became more and more fascinated by this little gem. Quite a few coin collectors liked this series of Chinese Classical Gardens. We all expected it to continue, and so searched everywhere for news about its new release. The only feedback, which was not unlike hearsay, was that there was a plan to issue a second medal Shenyuan, but the plan was subsequently scratched. We all felt betrayed, which led to a crazy idea: we would all go and seek out our mint contacts, and see whether we could commission the Mint with more medals for the series.

As luck would have it, we discovered by accident a Lan Ting ink stone, said to have been engraved in mid Qing Dynasty. The poetic ambience of floating wine cups along a winding stream on the ink stone overwhelmed everyone. ("Floating wine cups along a winding stream" was an ancient festival, when scholars would sit on the bank of the stream, waiting for wine cups to pass. If the wine cup stopped in front of a scholar, he was obliged to compose a poem on the spot and drink the wine from the cup.) We decided to use the ink stone image as the design template and launched the project.

Oh all the twists and turns! First, the Classical Garden series was officially launched by Shanghai Mint. It was their own product. The system ruled out the possibility for individuals or organizations to take it over. It required a rigid system of expert review and approvals through the hierarchy. Despite our efforts made on multiple fronts, the cold reality was more than chilling. Our enthusiasm in the initial stage was again doused – we had even organized a Chinese Classical Garden silver medal development team (group), to work on research related to the Classical Garden series. We were not to give up, though. We decided to accomplish the impossible with our heart. Multiple trips were made to Shanghai Mint, to communicate with the designers, and to express to the leadership our fervent love for the series. After long and repeated communication which went on for almost half a year, our sincerity broke the ice. Maestro Yu Min willingly accepted the job to design and engrave the second medal in the series, Lan Ting. The leadership of Shanghai Mint also made an exception. Rules and regulations must be followed, but the distribution of the medal could be negotiated. This turned on the green light for the continued releases of the series.

Once minting started, disturbing news poured in. Because the surface of Lan Ting swells up like a bun, stress fell on the rim. But with the uneven surface, dies cracked easily during striking. Four sets of steel dies cracked for striking the first batch of 170 pieces. What was worse, around 110 of them were held by the QA team from being released, as they did not meet the Mint's standards. The striking issue got so bad that the operators were too scared to start the coin press. All the stakeholders converged on the scene: the Mint leadership team, the General Production Planner and the Director of the Die Division got together in the production facility in an effort to find a solution to the problem. This technical tough challenge weighed on everyone's mind in the sweltering summer.

The technical expertise of Shanghai Mint enriched over nearly 100 years, as well as the collective wisdom of the professionals, finally proved itself to our admiration. After 7 sets of cracked dies, the Lan Ting silver medal emerged perfectly with performing and multiple strikes in the fall of 2013, thanks to the efforts put in by everyone involved.

The planned mintage of Lan Ting was 2,000, but the actual mintage was 1,500.

I would like to mention specifically the antique finish Lan Ting. Controversy came up during the planning state in the Classical Garden QQ group, for several reasons. First, the Yuyuan medal did not have this finish. So it was inconsistent. Second, the blackish color would not look good. Someone even PSed a black picture of the Lan Ting medal and presented it to the group. It was very unsightly. At the suggestion of Professor Huang Ruiyong, we decided to mint only 200 pieces as a trial. It turned out to be the biggest hit when the medals were delivered. On the release day, bids were offered for the antique finish version at twice the release price. It was the undisputed star of all the Lan Ting medals. Now it has totally disappeared from the market, and became a favorite among many.

Silver Lan Ting



3. Summer Palace

By the end of 2013, the third medal in the series was being planned, for the Summer Palace, the top garden of the four Famous Gardens. (The others are Liuyuan and the Garden of Humble Administrator in Suzhou, and the Imperial Summer Resort in Chengde – translator.) Dazhou, a QQ group member, brought up an idea: recreation based on the painting of "Festival Summer Palace" by Mr. Zhang Yuqing from the 1970s. This proposal was turned down by the designers because of copyright consideration. However, it led their thoughts to a new direction. They followed Mr. Zhang's footsteps to the Summer Palace for onsite observations. Repeated musing and sketches were tempted from his perspective. Finally a bold presentation of the panorama condensed the overwhelming landscape on the surface of a 40 mm medal. It is unprecedented as such.

The design of the other side also took a dramatic turn. At first we all agreed to using a lacquer plate with gold-painted design of the Xiequyuan in the Summer Palace, which was bought from Japan at a high price by a group member Zhao Yong, as the inspiration for redesign and engraving. Consensus was reached after repeated discussions and even heated arguments between the QQ group members and the designers, while referring to the double-sided deep dish design of a silver coin from Perth Mint of Australia. This led to the introduction of the first double-sided deep dish medal in China. (As an aside, when the design of the Summer Palace medal was under way, the China Gold Coins Incorporation under the People's Bank of China was calling for bids on the 2014 China's Buddhist Sanctuary – Ermei 2 oz silver coin. Shanghai Mint took the idea of a deep dish design from our Summer Palace medal, and presented a single side deep dish coin design, which came out on top in the fierce competition with Shenyang Mint and Shenzhen Guobao Mint because it appealed to the many experts on the review committee. Afterwards, Shanghai Mint staff expressed thanks to our design and development team. We were especially pleased to be able to contribute to coin making technologies of our country with our collective wisdom.)

When the design of the Summer Palace commemorative medal was submitted to Shanghai Mint, approved and even engraved, a dramatic turn took place. The QQ group members found a better and more representative landscape of the Summer Palace, the Long Corridor. The original design was replaced, and the new design had to be submitted for approval. But the hard work of the designers on the original design was not to be wasted, and the system of the national mint had to be followed. After repeated discussions with the Mint, they agreed at the beginning of 2014 to provide the original design Xiequyuan as an extra bonus to the QQ group members, to our pleasant surprise, along with the Summer Palace – Long Corridor. The Summer Palace medal now has two varieties. The reverse is the panorama view of the Summer Palace. The obverse is 1. Long Corridor; 2. Xiequyuan. (The Xiequyuan variety came into existence just by accident. Maybe it should be excluded from the series, because this process cannot be replicated. Of course its price is sky high, too.)

4. Yuanmingyuan

Time flies. Yuanmingyuan, the "garden of all gardens", quickly moved onto the radar screen of the development team. It had a glorious past. Therefore it became the top priority of the Classical Garden series. But today all that was left of the garden are just ruins. How can the past glory be represented? This thought weighed on our mind as well as on the mind of the three most outstanding designers of Shanghai Mint. After collective brainstorming, it was finally decided to draw inspirations from the painting Forty Scenes of Yuanmingyuan by the imperial painters of Emperor Qianlong – Tang Dai, Shen Yuan and Leng Mei, as well as the copperplate European Palace in Yuanmingyuan by Giuseppe Castiglione. Combined with designs drawn from onsite observations by the designers, a grandiose medal was finally accomplished with Chinese style landscape and the Hall of National Peace on the obverse, and the ruins of the Water Wonder on the reverse.

As the obverse of this medal is extremely detailed, Ms. Zhang Chunyue, director of the design and engraving team at Shanghai Mint, took up the engraving work herself. The reverse was shaped by the knives of Ms. Dong Huizhen, a top coin designer/engraver. The clay models took as long as 4 months to complete. After the clay models were replicated to plaster models, it would take one to two weeks of detailing before they could be placed on the reducer to be reduced to master hubs. At that critical moment, Ms. Zhang was diagnosed with some serious illness. Before she was hospitalized, she asked Ms. Dong time and again to perfect the models for her. The Yuanmingyuan medal was not only designed with their heart and soul, but also a summary and reflection of Ms. Zhang Chunye's many years of work.

After many twists and turns, the Yuanmingyuan medal, with the highest relief never seen on Chinese small size coins and medals, was finally released at the end of 2014. The ultra high relief on the ruins side had posed enormous difficulty for its production. The production management team and the coin press room staff organized trial productions which lasted 2 months. After trying out planchet performing, multiple (3-4 times) strikes, lathing twice to round the edge, double annealing, multiple cracked sets of working dies, multiple times of manual work, edging lettering and rhodium plating to prevent oxidation, the production was finally completed with success. Afterwards, the production team at Shanghai Mint confided that the work order was carried out regardless of cost or manpower, for the purpose of testing different new technologies and meeting the challenges. The difficulty and cost of producing this medal was absolutely beyond imagination.

Silver Yuanmingyuan

Brass Yuanmingyuan



5. Imperial Summer Resort (to be continued)





































Here is some more information provided by Lei Ting on the Chinese Classical Garden series.

1. Chinese Classical Garden I – Hill Admiring Hall in the Yuyuan Garden
(Yuyuan in Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Garden)
The first ultra high relief silver medal minted by Shanghai Mint
Released by: Shanghai Mint
Year of release: 2010
Designer and engraver: Yu Min

Description: The Yuyuan Garden is one of the "Four Top National Cultural Markets." It is the only Ming Dynasty style garden in Shanghai, located in the Yuyuan Tourist Plaza, bordering the Town's God Temple. It is considered to be the best among the five top gardens in the lower Yangtze River Valley area. It embodies the Ming and Qing Dynasty classical garden style of condensing a large perspective into a limited space, characterized by architectural structures of complementing the realistic with the impressionistic, contrasting the big with the small, and alternating density with sparsity. The garden is a cultural site under special protection of the government, as well as a national 4A tourist site.

2. Chinese Classical Garden II – Lan Ting (Orchid Pavilion)
(Lan Ting in Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid_Pavilion_Gathering)
Released by: Shanghai Mint
Year of release: 2013
Designer and engraver: Yu Min

Description: The obverse of the medal features the architecture of the Chinese classical garden, with the inscription "Charming beyond Description" by Liu Shutang, the Governor of Zhejiang in the Qing Dynasty. In the middle are paragraphs from the Preface to the Lan Ting Poem Collection written by Wang Xizhi. The reverse design imitates the ancient scene of floating wine cups along a winding stream around Lan Ting, engraved with the characters 曲水流觞 (floating wine cups along a winding stream) in the form of a seal by the reputed modern calligrapher Lei Yu, and the characters 兰亭 (Lan Ting - Orchid Pavilion) written by Emperor Kang Xi.

3. Chinese Classical Garden III – Summer Palace/Corridor, Summer Palace/Xiequyuan
(Summer Palace in Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace)
Released by: Shanghai Mint
Year of release: 2014
Designers and engravers: Zhang Chunye, Dong Huizhen, Zhao Qiang (Rocky Zhao)

Description: It was the first time that the minting technology of double-side deep dish with high relief had ever been used on Chinese coins/medals. Summer Palace/Corridor has the long corridor in the Summer Palace on the obverse, and a panorama view of the Summer Palace on the reverse. Summer Palace/Xiequyuan has the landscape of Xuequyuan on the obverse and a panorama view of the Summer Palace on the reverse.

4. Chinese Classical Garden IV – Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace)
(Yuanmingyuan in Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Summer_Palace)
Released by: Shanghai Mint
Year of release: 2014
Designers and engravers: Zhang Chunye, Dong Huizhen, Zhao Qiang (Rocky Zhao)

Description: Yuanmingyuan in the Chinese Classical Garden series is not unlike "only after our repeated calls did she appear" (line from an ancient poem - translator). The medal is simply fabulous, with ultra high relief on a 40 mm surface. It is highly collectible.

The Yuanmingyuan medal can be characterized as "wonderful scenery with 12 lunar animals; western copperplate enhanced by Chinese fine brushwork; garden of all gardens, living only in memory."

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Why Medals?

Ever since I argued with badon on the Chinese Coin Forum and Live Business Chat about the differences between coins and medals, I myself have gradually gravitated towards medals, including brass ones. I received some inquiries on my shift of attitude and position. Instead of answering individually, I hope this post can shed some light on my current understanding of medals vs. coins. Comments are welcome.

Unlike badon, who denies any difference between fiat coins and non-fiat medals, I do see a difference between them. So I still call a coin a coin, and a medal a medal. But (and this is a big "but"), in terms of the precious metal coins issued by PRC after 1979 (MCC), the difference is minimal and nominal. MCCs were never issued for circulation. Instead, they have been produced as "artwork for collection" (from Mr. Zhu Dechun, regarded as father of MCC). In that sense, they are not very different from medals made for the same purpose. (One of the mistakes in MCC collection is to compare MCCs to precious metal coins issued for circulation in the US. This mistake led to many false analogies between the two, in terms of mintage, grade rarity, and predictions of price trends, among others. I really want to emphasize that these two are fundamentally different, as one was meant for circulation, and the other mainly artwork for collection. If anything, MCCs should be compared to the little known precious metal commemorative coins in the US, which were first released in 1892 and the collection of which has not been very popular.)

The main arguments against medal collection include 1) medals are not officially protected and can be counterfeited without punishment; 2) medals lag behind coins in price appreciation. Let's examine these arguments one by one.

First, coins, whether circulating ones or MCCs, are not immune to counterfeiting. Even newly issued circulating commemorative coins with a street value of 15 Yuan ($2.5) are faked. Fake coins are sold on the Chinese Taobao site with no sign of pending official punishment. Punishment for coin counterfeiting has largely remained as a theoretical deterrent, but has so far failed to be effectively implemented. The reason may be that commemorative coins, whether of base metal or of previous metal, are not in circulation and so their faking poses no threat to the financial system, while counterfeiting of large face value paper notes is treated seriously, as the latter are real medium of exchange in life. Whatever the reason, it is a cold fact that MCCs have not been better protected than medals against counterfeiting.

If we look beyond modern Chinese coins and medals, we will see that counterfeiting has not stopped people from collecting/investing in the pre-1949 coins. Coins made from all types of metal, copper, silver and gold, between the time when milled coins were first introduced to China in the late 19th century, up to 1949, are counterfeited recklessly as there is virtually no protection for them. Dies to make Fat Man coins are openly available on Taobao. Cheap fakes flood the market, including eBay. And yet, due to the pioneering work of early collectors, foreigners included, collection of "old silver round" as they are known in China has been the most popular and advanced numismatic category among Chinese coin collection, with detailed studies of their varieties and huge price gaps between high grade coins – phenomena observable in US coin collection. It was no coincidence that the "old silver round" was the first numismatic category to embrace coin grading in China. With the help of grading companies, the risk of running into fake coins is greatly reduced if not totally eliminated, as long as one insists on buying graded specimens.

Second, it is true that many medals have not appreciated in value as fast as coins. I used the example of the Xinjiang silver coin vs. medal in my argument against medals when I first brought up the issue with badon. This is due to the smaller number of medal collectors in the past. "Medals are lesser than coins", a motto among some Chinese collectors, becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Because medals are regarded as having less investment value, fewer collect them, which in turn reduces the demand and drags down the price. However, even with the small number of collectors, the top rarities among medals have not lost to coins in the same ranking in price appreciation. Here is a comparison of top silver coins and medals in a fixed time frame. They are priced in the Chinese Yuan.

  
 (I am comparing top small size silver coins with top medals because I do not keep track of prices of large size coins. Those familiar with large size coins can do a similar comparison. Large size silver coins are not in my range of collection.)

It is obvious that in terms of price appreciation, top silver medals have outrun top small size silver coins. The Jianzhen silver medal set has an even higher rate - close to 40x price growth since December, 2007. Of course, not all the medals appreciate as rapidly. The 1987 Long Beach Expo silver medal, which sold 100 Yuan more than the Jianzhen set at the same auction run by the Oriental Auction House in 2007, has appreciated only slightly in price. Rarity plays a crucial role in price appreciation among medals due to the smaller collector base. The sharp contrast in price appreciation between the top medals and more common ones reveals the profile of current medal collectors: a small number of advanced, well-to-do individuals who collect both coins and medals alike and are relentlessly in pursuit of the rarest medals.

In addition to past price appreciation, we should bear in mind the possibility that the self-fulfilling prophesy "medals are lesser than coins" may be abandoned by new MCC collectors, thus pushing the price of the currently undervalued medals way up. Collectors of the recent Chinese Classical Garden series medals are mostly MCC collectors, too. Is it a sign that the trend is starting to turn?

Finally, as artwork, officially minted medals tend to stand out over coins. Coins are strictly controlled in their theme, design, artistic style, technology and time to market. Low relief is typically required on coins made in large quantity, for example. In comparison, the same mint artists designing medals have a lot more freedom to themselves. Zeng Chenghu spent over a year (on and off) working on his hand-engraved Pagodas, and Bai Wenjun spent nearly a year on his hand-engraved medal set Plum, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum. The recently released Chinese Classical Gardens series employed techniques unparalleled in coins, such as double-sided deep dish and ultra-high relief. Some of the most artistically sophisticated artwork exists only in the form of copper medals, such as the hand-engraved Guilin Scenery set. Of course there are exquisitely made MCCs (the first series of lunars, for example) and poorly made medals, especially those commissioned by organizations or individuals. But overall the consensus is that medals are artistically more appealing.

Enjoying wonderful artwork, nice price appreciation, the vanity of owning and bragging about top rarities, with the possibility of a huge price breakout in the future – what can be a more fulfilling experience in numismatic collection and investment?



Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Dandan's Comments on Chinese Coins (7) - 5 oz Rectangular Silver Tiger


http://club.pchome.net/thread_1_15_6648665_17__.html
Today I am going to write about 5 oz coins. Someone said that I liked large silver coins. It is true, mainly because the recently released small silver coins have a huge mintage, expanding with no limits. On the other hand, large gold coins are much too expensive, not good for common collectors. The coin I am going to discuss today was released 2 years ago, the rectangular silver Tiger.

As usual, let me talk briefly about the background of the coin. The 5 oz rectangular silver Tiger was released in 2009, with 2010 on the reverse of the coin. Like all the precious metal lunar coins, it was released at the end of the previous year, with a crouching tiger on the design. Honestly, my first reaction was this tiger was so lifeless, not awe-inspiring at all. It is much too bland in design and craftsmanship, mostly because this tiger is not spirited. The mintage of this coin was 1,888, very small. Yet starting from 2000, when the 5 oz rectangular silver coin was first released, this series has not seen much growth in value. Many distributors have few in their inventory. There are three main reasons. First, before the 5 oz rectangular silver coins, 5 oz round-shaped silver coins had been marketed, with a mintage of around 1,000. (The mintage of the round silver coins varied depending on the year.) The price of those round coins also remained tepid. Secondly, the 5 oz rectangular silver coins  back flew from overseas, as they are mostly released to the Hong Kong market. The inventory is really low among distributors inside China. As such, speculation is not easy. Lastly, we all know that many coins released in 2000 had a low price, because the market was in a deep freeze then. Only a handful of true collectors carried on with collection of these coins. Where were those speculators at that time? Considering all these three factors, the 5 oz rectangular series has remained tepid since its initial release in 2000, as a largely overlooked category. Things started to change after 2009. The three reasons for change can also be summarized as follows. First, the mintage. This point is beyond any dispute. The 1,888 mintage may appear unsurprising among the early precious metal coins, but today, especially after the steady increase of the mintage in recent years, the mintage of 1,888 is tiny. Secondly, after 10 years, the whole 5 oz rectangular silver coin series is drawing to a close. With this in mind, many collectors, investors and even speculators have started to pick them up, because for a collector, once he or she started on a series, this series has to be completed. Otherwise it will feel as if there is something missing. Last but not least, the market turned. Unlike the slow market in 2000, which was going down, the coin market at the beginning of 2009 was going to witness the best two years in history. Many types kept breaking records and went through one peak after another in the last two years. In addition, through the powerful and wide-spread reporting and promotion by traditional media like TV and newspapers, and new media like the Internet, more people became aware of this market, with new collectors steadily joining in. This "new blood" has been the major driving force of the expanding market. With these three points, the later growth of the 5 oz rectangular silver Tiger is logical and reasonable. Its release price at the end of 2009 was a few thousand Yuan, but now it is already tens of thousands Yuan, a multiple time increase in just two years. But this coin is still largely ignored, mainly because the 5 oz colored Tiger is more popular, overshadowing it. Also, the mintage of the 5 oz rectangular silver coins is too small. Although the rank of players and collectors of this series grew in recent years, their total number is still unimpressive. This leads to the considerable difference between the buying price and the selling price. The collector has to offer a significant discount when cashing out the coin. This year the China Gold Coins Incorporation went out of their head again, by increasing the mintage of the new round of 5 oz rectangular silver coins to 20,000. I have negative opinion on this move, as the mintage is now too large. 

I have the feeling that the price growth of 5 oz rectangular silver coins in the past couple of years is the result of value return and value realization. Now that value is realized, reaching a high price range, the first series cannot be used as major investment. It can be a major collectible series, though. After all, the first series is miniscule in mintage compared with the second series.  

Collection Index: 10
Investment Index: 7