Struck at the Kwangtung mint in Canton (Guangzhou), the dragon dollar was Imperial China’s first machine-made silver dollar — and the design template every other province copied. This entry covers the type, its specs, and the record-setting rarities at the top of the series.
Key facts
- Undated issues struck 1890–1908 (KM-Y203, L&M-133, Kann-26), Guangzhou (Canton) mint; 27 g silver, 39 mm, denominated 7 mace 2 candareens (Heritage Auctions lot descriptions, NGC-certified).
- This issue was the first to move the English legend to the dragon side of the coin, after the earlier arrangement drew public and official opposition — a small number of presentation specimens were struck before mass circulation production (Heritage).
- The design became the model for all other imperial silver dollars (Heritage: “would become the model for all other silver Dollars minted in the Empire”).
- Earlier dated issues exist: an 1889-dated 7 mace 3 candareens Kwangtung dollar (KM-Y198) — among the first milled coinage of Imperial China, struck to replace Spanish and Mexican 8 reales — saw a finest-certified MS64+ NGC example realize $228,000 at a Heritage Hong Kong sale (Numismatic News).
- A superb SP67 PCGS “standard pattern” specimen is described by Heritage as possibly the finest known of its kind.