CHINA-REPUBLIC 1936 Sun Yat Sen One Dollar Nickel Spade Coin Essay, K632y, KM-PN176, NGC MS64, NC Collection, Ex. Spink-Taisei Sale 2/92 LOT 111, from 1963 Wayte Raymond auction (USD 525)

As demonstrated in The True Story of China's 1936 and 1937 Silver Dollars published in the Journal of East Asian Numismatics in 1995, Kann got the story about these coins backwards. The 1936 dollar and half dollar with spade coin design were not made in quantity and were most likely made in Shanghai or Philadelphia, not San Francisco. The 1937 dollar and half dollar were definitely made in San Francisco - both denominations have the "S" mintmark. The 1937 coins were made in quantity (actually in 1938), but they were never shipped to China, and were, in fact, melted at the San Francisco Mint. The few pieces which survive today were probably samples sent to mint officials in Shanghai. The 1936 coins, on the other hand, are almost certainly patterns. Records in the United States confirm that the U.S. Mint (most likely Philadelphia) made some pattern Chinese dollars and/or half dollars in 1936. What we don't know is which coins were made. There are two different sets of 1936 pattern dollars and half dollars - Kann 632-633 and 634-635, plus an odd group of pattern half dollars without the Greek border (Kann 632ii and 633ii). All of these silver pattern coins are rather strange considering that China had outlawed the use of silver coins in 1935. Why then were the 1936 patterns and 1937 coins made at all? The answer is that they were part of a more-or-less secret political deal between the Chinese government, the U.S. government and a group of U.S. congressmen who were trying to drive up the price of silver. The U.S. government was quietly buying up huge amounts of silver from China in an effort to help her resist and later fight the Japanese. As part of the deal, the United States required the Chinese to at least pretend to issue silver coins. Once the war between China and Japan broke out, however, the U.S. dropped this condition. These rare coins are part of a fascinating and little known historical event.

NGC MS64