1933 Sun Yat-sen Junk Dollar

Specifications

Denomination: 1 Dollar (1 Yuan)
Years of issue: 1933
Composition: 90% Silver, 10% Copper
Weight: 26.73 g
Diameter: 39.5 mm
Edge: Reeded
Mintage: 46400000

Melt value: $49.85silver $64.40/ozt, copper $0.44/ozt · prices as of Sep 16, 2026

AI-generated illustration based on cited references; a freely licensed photograph of the junk dollar obverse exists on Wikimedia Commons (File:Year 21 Chinese junk dollar obverse.jpg, CC BY 4.0, Justine Philip) but no verifiable direct image URL could be confirmed.

Year 22 of the Republic — the no-birds junk dollar of 1933, China's national silver dollar at 46.4 million struck.

History

The junk dollar, named for the Chinese sailing ship on its reverse, became China’s national silver dollar in 1933, replacing the Yuan Shikai dollar after the Shanghai Central Mint opened in 1932 (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16)
The Year 21 (1932) first issue showed a rising sun and three wild geese above the junk; the sun was dropped in June 1933 after comparisons to the Japanese Rising Sun flag, and the geese — said to resemble warplanes — went with it, producing the plain no-birds reverse of the Year 22 (1933) and Year 23 (1934) issues; the original design is nicknamed the ‘three bird coin’ (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16)
The Year 22 (1933) issue, KM-Y345 / L&M-109, was struck from June 1933 to May 1934 with a reported mintage of 46,400,000 (Wikipedia; NGC, accessed 2026-09-16)
The reverse design was adapted from an Italian pattern submitted in the 1929 international design competition, in which the mints of Austria, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States all produced trial junk dollars (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16)
The obverse bears Sun Yat-sen’s portrait with the Republican calendar date above it (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16)
Note: a circulating 1927-dated junk dollar does not exist — the Nationalist government revived the memento dollar in 1927, and circulating junk dollars begin with the Year 21 coins struck in 1933 (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16)

Key dates and varieties

Year 22 (1933) — KM-Y345 / L&M-109; 46,400,000 struck June 1933–May 1934 (NGC; Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16)
The no-birds reverse distinguishes it from the Year 21 ‘three bird’ first issue, of which only about 55,000 of 2.26 million struck entered circulation before the rest were melted (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16)

Specifications

Composition: Silver, .900 fine (NGC, accessed 2026-09-16).
Diameter: 39.5 mm (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16).
Edge: Reeded (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16).
Weight: 26.73 g; ASW 0.7734 oz (NGC, accessed 2026-09-16).

Collector notes

Junk dollars are among the most commonly counterfeited Chinese coins — buy graded examples and verify the PCGS/NGC certificate number online.
Weigh the coin: a genuine example is 26.73 g at .900 fine; fakes commonly miss weight, diameter (39.5 mm), or both.
The 1949 U.S.-mint restrikes are dated Year 23 only, so a Year 22 piece cannot be a 1949 restrike — but it can still be a modern fake.
Original mint luster and sharp junk rigging lines are good signs; mushy sails and wrong edge reeding are red flags.