Specifications
- Denomination
- 1 dollar (壹圓)
- Series
- Hung Hsien imperial issues
- Years of issue
- 1916
- Composition
- 100% Silver
- Weight
- 26.8 g
- Diameter
- 39 mm
- Edge
- Reeded
- KM
- Y332
- Key mintages
- Mintage unverified in consulted sources; KM-Y480 (from research brief) unsupported — all consulted catalogs give KM-Y332; exact silver fineness unverified
Melt value: $55.49
KM-Y332 'Flying Dragon' dollar · $240,000 for PCGS MS64 (May 2022) · struck for Yuan Shih-kai's short-lived 1916 imperial restoration.
History
- Struck at the Tientsin mint for the inauguration of Yuan Shih-kai as Emperor Hung Hsien, founder of the short-lived Empire of China — a brief departure from the Republic (PCGS; Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
- The ‘Plumed Hat’ obverse shows Yuan in a tall plumed imperial hat; the reverse carries the intricate ‘flying dragon’ design, decidedly more elusive than the plain-wreath 1914 plumed-hat type (Heritage Auctions; NumisBids, accessed 2026-09-16).
- Cataloged as KM-Y332, L&M-942, Kann-663, WS-0097 across PCGS, Heritage and Stack’s Bowers listings (PCGS; Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
- A PCGS MS64 example realized $240,000 at Stack’s Bowers’ May 2022 Hong Kong auction against a $70,000–$100,000 estimate; PCGS Price Guide lists $105,000 (PCGS, accessed 2026-09-16).
Key dates and varieties
- Two ‘Plumed Hat’ types exist: the 1914 (KM-Y322, honoring Yuan as founder of the Republic, mintage 20,000 per Heritage) and the 1916 ‘flying dragon’ (KM-Y332) — the 1916 is the rarer and more coveted (Heritage Auctions; NumisBids, accessed 2026-09-16).
- The Hung Hsien fantasy dollar (KM-X1385, Kann-B48: Yuan on horseback, city gate reverse, plain edge) is a separate scarce fantasy issue — not the genuine imperial dollar (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
- Edge/signature varieties exist, e.g. reeded edge with no signature (PCGS, accessed 2026-09-16).
Specifications
- composition
- weight
- diameter
- edge
- designers
- mint
Certified populations: PCGS pop 75 with 74 higher (PCGS Auction Prices, accessed 2026-09-16)
Collector notes
- KM NUMBER: consulted sources (PCGS Auction Prices, Heritage, Stack’s Bowers via CoinArchives) unanimously catalog this coin as KM-Y332 / L&M-942 / Kann-663 — the KM-Y480 number suggested in the research brief is not supported by any of these sources and is not used (PCGS; Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
- COUNTERFEIT WARNING: this is a six-figure type and one of the most counterfeited Chinese rarities — buy only PCGS/NGC-certified examples and verify the cert number directly with the grading service (NGC; Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
- Value factors: grade dominates — an MS64 brought $240,000 (May 2022) and another $150,000 (April 2026); problem coins (cleaned, altered surfaces, corrosion) trade at steep discounts even when genuine (PCGS; CoinArchives, accessed 2026-09-16).
- Do not confuse the genuine ‘flying dragon’ dollar with the KM-X1385 horseback fantasy dollar, which is a separate scarce issue with its own market (Heritage Auctions, accessed 2026-09-16).
Market check
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