Guilin mint branch strange republican token made from 2 different 1940's medals

Started by MORGENSTERNN, December 12, 2024, 07:16:01 PM

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MORGENSTERNN

Hello,
I found that strange token made from 2 different dies similar (but not die identical) from those used to strike medals in 1940 and 1943 at the Guilin mint

Weight : 6,50 g
Size : 30 mm
Orientation : coin alignment but about 10% missaligned
Edge is smooth

Spade side see Zeno#345982

Sun side see Zeno#346004

Text is translated as :


- Spade side (1943 medal) central weakness and cud error :

民国三十二年中央造币厂桂林分厂
Guilin Branch of the Central Mint in the 32nd year of the Republic of China
五周年纪念
Fifth anniversary


- Sun side (1940 medal) die cracks :

中央造币厂桂林分厂二周年蒋介
The Second Anniversary of the Central Mint Guilin Branch Chiang Kai-shek
建国必成
The founding of the country will be successful

The dies are close but not exactly those presented on known medals as on Zeno pictures (ex: spade side is not signed, sun rays are connected).
On the other hand they are also well different from those used to make counterfeit medals in China.

My best guess is variations or rejected dies later used to coin emergency token because of shortage of proper dies...

Tell me please you opinion about that strange item
Many thanks

MORGENSTERNN

More pictures from both sides

Figleaf

It could be 1) a mint error or an emergency solution, or b) it could have been made (perhaps later) for sale to collectors.

In favour of 1: both dies look genuine and were used in the same mint at the same time. Their diameters are very close. Times were interesting. There is likely to have been a scarcity of coins.

Arguments against 1: Leaving out the portrait of Chiang seems politically incorrect. The die cracks indicate the die was breaking apart. The originals were clad in white colour metal, suggesting silver. The copper coin may not have found much acceptance (but it may have been circulated as a copper denomination). Wouldn't emergency banknotes have been a better solution?

In favour of 2: Sloppy minting. Only the cheap metals remain. An accidental error like this would have been noticed at the mint. The dies may well have been abandoned as unusable when the mint was evacuated in 1944 as the Japanese approached.

Against 2: in 1944, collecting errors was by far not as fashionable as today, so the cracks would have distracted. Also, collecting modern Chinese coin was not popular. If it was produced for collectors, who would have bought this?

In the final analysis, to determine the status of this piece, we need to know more about demand for coins (rather than notes) in the Chinese held part of Hunan province.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

MORGENSTERNN

Thank you Peter !

The comment under the spade & lion medal on Zeno ends with : "In 1944, the war in Hunan Province became intense. With the fall of Changsha and Hengyang, the Guilin branch stepped up transportation. The branch evacuated everything from Guilin. Today, we can only see this scene from the blackened stone walls."

So that token could have been stroke later in another place than Guilin with the evacuated material (in that option chinese did not have abandoned the dies).