China Republic Yuan Shi Kai Commemoration medal Coin Dollar silver 1914 1 Yuan Pattern; proposed "Fat Man dollar"; with L.Giorgi

It's NOT a genuine Coin- Only 1:1 with silver produced for collectors and historical enthusiasts!

1 Yuan Pattern; proposed "Fat Man dollar"; with L.Giorgi

Obverse

Bust of Yuan Shikai partially facing left with Chinese ideograms above.

Lettering: 

年三國民華中

L.GIORGI 

Translation: Year 3 of the Republic of China 

Engraver: Luigi Giorgi

Reverse

Two Chinese ideograms within wreath.

Lettering: 

壹

圓 

Translation: 1 Yuan 

Comments

This was the proposed pattern for the well-known "Fat Man dollar" type, and was struck at the Tientsin Mint.

Yuan Shikai (1859–1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty, and tried to save the dynasty with bureaucratic and fiscal reforms. He built a modern army and a more efficent provincial government in North China in the years leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor in 1911.

This army and bureaucratic control were the foundation of his autocratic rule as the first formal President of the Republic of China. He was frustrated in a short-lived attempt to restore monarchy in China, with himself as the Hongxian Emperor.

This coin was produced to replace foreign and Provincial dragon dollars in circulation and could be found with two flan thicknesses, 2.8 mm and 3.25 mm. The thin variety was the issue struck for circulation in 1914. 

Engraver: Luigi Giorgi