World Coin BookWorld coin encyclopedia

Cross-country learning guide

Chinese Silver Circulation

A guide to silver by weight, foreign dollars, provincial and central coins, merchant acceptance, and the boundaries of a future China catalog.

Sycee and taelsForeign dollarsDragon dollarsStandardization
Routes
14
Relationships
8
Ports
8
Status
Published

Scope boundary

China context before a China catalog

Phase 12 explains silver circulation but does not publish a complete China taxonomy.

Foreign silver coin

Keeps its Mexican, Spanish-American, Japanese, British, or other host identity.

Sycee / silver ingot

Silver by weight, not a struck coin series.

Provincial silver coin

Requires its own province, mint, standard, and type boundary.

Central-government coin

Must not absorb provincial dragon dollars into one catch-all series.

Merchant token or mark

A different object or event from official coin issuance.

Documented object

1911 central dragon dollar with chopmarks

The British Museum object establishes a Chinese host, 26.52 g observed weight, 39 mm diameter, and visible chopmarks. Its image remains pending local commercial-rights review.

Source trail

Institutional and contemporary evidence