China Coins | What are Chinese Panda Coins?
Posted on 31 January 2019
China Coins | An introduction to Chinese Panda Coins
Chinese Panda coins are the main bullion coin produced by China and are a highly regarded alternative to other major bullion coins such as the British Sovereign or South African Krugerrand.
Pandas were first issued in 1982 bearing the new design from artist Mr. Chen Jian and as the years have passed, many of the earlier coins and rare dates are extremely highly sort after by collectors worldwide.
The coins feature designs of The Temple of Heaven and different Panda portraits depending on the year. The original releases in 1982 bore no face value but have done in subsequent years and even the 1982 coins were still classified by the China Mint as official legal tender.
They have been minted in gold and silver typically in 5 sizes 1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/10 oz and 1/20 oz and are released in proof and brilliant uncirculated (standard) sets.
Commemorative Panda Coins and Medals
From 1984 onward special commemorative Chinese Panda Coins have been released which all started with the 3rd Hong Kong International Coin Exposition. The trial proved extremely successful and Hong Kong Exposition Pandas can also be tricky to track down in higher grades today.
See below for some of the earlier / most collectible China Panda Hong Kong Coin Expo medals:
Rare Chinese Panda Coins:
Several regular and proof Panda coins are now very hard to find in good condition and command stiff prices when located.
The earlier years are obviously some of the hardest China coins to find in high grades as many were mistreated or even used in jewelry products. Interestingly, however. the 1985 Panda released in brass remains one of the most elusive of all the Panda coins for collectors.
If you are buying Chinese coins, the prices variy significantly depending on the quality level or grade with many collectors preferring to buy graded examples of rare coins to be sure what quality they are buying. Thankfully, it’s really simple to check out how rare the highly graded coins are for each year using the NGC or PCGS websites.
Chinese Pandas coins are now more than 35 years old and continue to grow both in China and internationally and they make for a really interesting collector’s coin!
If you would like to read more – the Gold and Silver Panda Coin Buyers Guide by Peter Anthony is great place to start.
Happy exploring!
