Specifications
- Denomination
- 1 Dollar
- Years of issue
- 1908
- Composition
- 90% Silver, 10% Copper
- Weight
- 26.9 g
- Diameter
- 39 mm
- KM
- KM-Y14; L&M-11
Melt value: $50.17
The national Tientsin Mint dragon dollar of 1908 — the central government's imperial issue, KM-Y14.
History
- The 1908 dollar of the Central Mint at Tientsin, cataloged KM-Y14 / L&M-11, was the national government’s imperial dragon dollar of the late Kuang-hsü era (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16)
- It is distinct from the provincial dollars of the same era — such as Chihli or Szechuan issues — as the product of the central (Tientsin) mint rather than a provincial one (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16)
- Like other late-Qing dollars it carries no Western date and is cataloged as ND (1908) (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16)
- It bears the standard imperial dragon reverse with the denomination and mint inscriptions in Chinese and English (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16)
- Heritage’s records give silver at 26.9 g and 39 mm with ASW 0.7783 oz, consistent with the .900 fine imperial standard (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16)
- Certified high-grade examples appear regularly in Heritage’s Hong Kong and world coin sales (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16)
Key dates and varieties
- KM-Y14 / L&M-11 — the national Tientsin issue; do not confuse it with provincial 1908 dollars (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16)
- Cataloged as ND (1908) — no Western date appears on the coin itself (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16)
Specifications
- Composition: Silver, .900 fine (26.9 g at .900 fine = ASW 0.7783 oz, per Heritage) (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
- Diameter: 39 mm (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
- Weight: 26.9 g; ASW 0.7783 oz (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
Collector notes
- Buy graded examples and verify the PCGS/NGC certificate number online; imperial dragon dollars are heavily counterfeited.
- Confirm the central (Tientsin) attribution — KM-Y14 / L&M-11 — since provincial 1908 dollars are separate types with different values.
- Check weight (26.9 g) and diameter (39 mm); underweight or softly struck pieces are suspect.
- No verified designer or edge type was found in the cited references, so do not trust listings that invent them.
Market check
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