Tsingtao coin (known as Qingdao now) Options

[gxseries]

I got this at a relatively cheap price considering the grade and how difficult it is to locate:



Weighs at 2.9 grams. I believe it is genuine - what do you think?

For those who don't know the significance of this coin, it is necessary to know for what part of China this coin is struck for. More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingdao

In short, this coin together with the 10 fen were struck only for German colony in China, known as Kiau Chau / Tsingtao / Qingdao (there's variations) and was struck for only one year.

Tough coin to find - I challenge you to find one similar in a reasonable price. Question - was this coin struck in China or in Germany?

[josemartins]

Congratulations! I know you were searching one for some time.

It looks genuine, the wheight should be 3,0 grams, so 2,9 grams in a 0,1g scale is OK. The fake one on Weege's book have minor dubling in some letters, the "hou" in "kiautshou" is underlined and the surface is more concave.

They were struck in Berlin (no mintmark like the 1890 Pesa from German East Africa) and they are hard to locate at a reasonable price, but they're usually found in high grade (my 10 cents is virtually UNC but with an odd patina, probably came from the "Cormorant hoard").

Jose

I got this at a relatively cheap price considering the grade and how difficult it is to locate:

Weighs at 2.9 grams. I believe it is genuine - what do you think?

For those who don't know the significance of this coin, it is necessary to know for what part of China this coin is struck for. More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingdao

In short, this coin together with the 10 fen were struck only for German colony in China, known as Kiau Chau / Tsingtao / Qingdao (there's variations) and was struck for only one year.

Tough coin to find - I challenge you to find one similar in a reasonable price. Question - was this coin struck in China or in Germany?

[ccg]

Congrats!

I wonder how much these actually circulated - they were issued as "big money", and most minor "big money" coins usually just ended up being traded as "small money" - except that the intrinsic value on these would had been way below FV.

[satootoko]

They were struck in Berlin (no mintmark like the 1890 Pesa from German East Africa)

Interesting. I wasn't aware that any products of a German mint lacked mint marks, and before reading Jose's post I was about to guess that the coin was minted in China solely on the basis of the lack of mint mark.

[josemartins]

..in fact that's a bit incomplete (as i was writing from memory), in fact all coins issued by the "German East Africa Company" until 1902 where issued without mintmark, all later government issues were issued with mintmarks (including the obsidional 1916 coins).
Kiau Chau was administered by the "Imperial Naval Office" (hence the anchor in the coin), so it probably followed the practice of not using mintmarks in colonial German coins that were not under government direct control.

Here's a link to an excellent article (pdf - 5 mb): FILE

Interesting. I wasn't aware that any products of a German mint lacked mint marks, and before reading Jose's post I was about to guess that the coin was minted in China solely on the basis of the lack of mint mark.

[banivechi]

Congrats for the coin!

[Saor Alba]

Nice coin, and one I have never seen one of in the flesh. Even the banknotes while a bit more common are difficult, but very lovely designs.

[luke_idk]

Great coin! Thanks for sharing.

[Blackhawk]

I got a rather beat up 50 pfennig token from of German military hospital of the area, dug it out of a tub of "junk" coins at a show. It took me a while to figure out what it was as the denomination was in pfennigs, it was from China, and the word lazaretto was on the piece. I no loner have the token...sold it about two years ago.