Silver Dragon (coin)
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Silver Dragon coins, also sometimes known as Dragon dollars, are
silver coin Silver coins are one of the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 B ...
s issued by China, Japan and later Korea for general circulation in their own countries. Featuring a dragon on the obverse of Japanese and Korean issues and on the reverse of Chinese issues, all were inspired by the silver
Spanish dollar The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content fine silver. It w ...
which following its introduction into the region in the 16th Century had set the standard for a de facto
common currency A currency union (also known as monetary union) is an intergovernmental agreement that involves two or more states sharing the same currency. These states may not necessarily have any further integration (such as an economic and monetary union, w ...
for trade in the Far East, this specification being a weight of 27.22 grams and a fineness of .900; the coin thus contained 24.5 g (0.7876 troy oz) of silver.


History

Following the establishment of the
Spanish Philippines Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine ** Spanish history ** Spanish cultur ...
,
Intramuros Intramuros () is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Intramuros comprises a centuries-old hist ...
became an
entrepôt An entrepôt ( ; ) or transshipment port is a port, city, or trading post where merchandise may be imported, stored, or traded, usually to be exported again. Such cities often sprang up and such ports and trading posts often developed into comm ...
for Chinese goods in one direction and silver, from across the Pacific to the Spanish held silver mines of Mexico, in the other. This so-called "
Manila Galleon The Manila galleon (; ) refers to the Spain, Spanish trading Sailing ship, ships that linked the Philippines in the Spanish East Indies to Mexico (New Spain), across the Pacific Ocean. The ships made one or two round-trip voyages per year betwe ...
s" trade route, led from the 16th Century onwards to the wide circulation and acceptance of "pieces of eight" in
East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...
. Even after the end of the Spanish Empire in the Americas, Western nations wishing to trade with China found the preferred method of payment was the silver
Mexican Peso The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, currency code: MXN; also abbreviated Mex$ to distinguish it from peso, other peso-denominated currencies; referred to as the peso, Mexican peso, or colloquially varo) is the official curre ...
, the successor of the Spanish dollar. The high regard in which the Spanish-Mexican coins came to be held, led to the minting of silver
Chinese yuan The renminbi ( ; currency symbol, symbol: Yen and yuan sign, ¥; ISO 4217, ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the China, People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the Peop ...
,
Japanese yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. Th ...
and later
Korean won Korean won primarily refers to: * South Korean won, the present currency of South Korea * North Korean won The Korean People's won, more commonly known as the North Korean won (currency symbol, symbol: ₩; ISO 4217, code: KPW; ) and someti ...
coins to the same specifications as the Spanish ones i.e. a weight 7 mace and 2
candareen A candareen (; Accessed from OED Online. ; Singapore English usage: hoon) is a traditional unit of measurement, measurement of weight in East Asia. It is equal to 10 cash (unit), cash and is of a mace (measurement), mace. It is approximatel ...
s (approx. 27.22 grams or 420
grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...
) and a
fineness The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hard ...
of .900 (90%), for use as legal tender in their own countries. The name of these coins in all three countries derives from , meaning round or circular object in all three languages, a link to these silver coins surviving in the modern names of the Chinese, Japanese and North and South Korean currencies, that is yuan, yen, and won. These coins were joined in circulation by trade dollars and colonial currencies such as the
Hong Kong dollar The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. It is divided into 100 cents. Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong an ...
, Kiautschou dollar and the
Straits dollar The Straits dollar was the currency of the Straits Settlements from 1898 until 1939. At the same time, it was also used in the Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States, Kingdom of Sarawak, Brunei, and British North Borneo. Histor ...
, which were produced to the same standard. Japan too would produce a trade dollar for external use which differed slightly from the yen coins it issued for its own use at home. The common standard to which all these coins were produced facilitated trade as theoretically they were interchangeable with one another on a one for one basis. However this was moderated by the fact that the general population were suspicious of coins that they were not familiar with and with some of the provincial mints in China producing debased coins; having a lower silver content and therefore less valuable because of it.


China

Chinese coins of this type are known
Kwangtung ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
dollars from the old romanisation of the name of the mint that they were first produced in China, more popularly they are known in Chinese as
Radical 212, 龍, 龙, or 竜 meaning "dragon", is one of the two of the 214 Kangxi radicals that are composed of 16 strokes. The character arose as a stylized drawing of a Chinese dragon, and refers to a version of the dragon in each East Asi ...
, literally "Dragon Silver" or "Dragon Money", 銀 capable of being read as both silver or money. Even before the official ending of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
factions and cliques emerged as would be warlords jostled for position and influence. As China headed into the republican and
warlord era The Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China between 1916 and 1928, when control of the country was divided between rival Warlord, military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions. It began after the de ...
s, local warlords used the provincial mints to issue their own Silver Dragons, these are of variable quality and value. These warlord and pre-warlord era coins include high quality coins intended to promote the legitimacy and prestige of the warlord and his faction and are proudly marked as such; there are also low quality coins, the majority, intended to deceive the receiver into believing that they are earlier coins of higher silver content and value, though not fake-in so much that they came from semi-official sources-these were and are of variable value depending on their silver content. With the coming of the Chinese republic China would continue producing silver coins of the same specification updated to bear the image of
Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...
and other politicians. China was forced from the
silver standard The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians 3000 BC until 1873. Following t ...
in 1935, however even after the silver coins became demonetised they remained a highly prized means of preserving wealth in an era of inflation and war.


Opium War 'Silver'

During the mid-years of what is known as the
Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...
, where most of the country's silver was exported to Europe and India due to the purchase of opium. The silver content of the coins was changed to 80% of silver and during the height of the silver famine was reduced down to as little as 40% silver. The rest of the coins composition varied, however coins minted by the Imperial mint used brass, copper and finally iron to fill the rest of the weight of the coin. Merchant "silver dollars", that is, coins that were minted for use in the bartering with merchant sailors and on the silk road, were 90% silver.


Legacy

The first Chinese Silver Panda collectable silver bullion coins were of the traditional specification of 27grams in weight, 0.900 fineness.


Collecting

Collecting silver dragon coins especially Chinese ones can be a financially hazardous prospect, with even experienced experts falling foul of fakes. There are modern fakes of genuine coins, historical fakes of genuine coins, and today given that some of the historical fakes have gained a numismatic value of their own, modern fakes of historical fakes.


References


Bibliography

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External links


History of the Silver Yen
Japanese

Japanese
Varieties and History of the late Qing dynasty Chinese Silver Coins
English {{Chinese currency and coinage Silver coins Coins of China Coins of Japan Coins of Korea