Item number: A3490

Year: AD 1939

Material: Copper

Size: 25.7 x 25.8 x 1.5 mm

Weight: 6.5 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a 1-cent coin dated to the 28th year of the Republic of China (AD 1939), reportedly minted by the Guilin Branch of the Central Mint using red copper.

The obverse of the coin features the emblem of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) at its centre. Along the upper edge is the inscription “28th Era of Republic of China.” The outer rim is adorned with a key-pattern design, commonly found on ancient Chinese bronzeware.

The reverse of the coin features a key-pattern border like the obverse. At the centre is an image of a spade money, a form of currency used during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, which was also adopted by the Nationalist Government as the emblem of the Ministry of Finance. Inside the spade coin is the character “財” (finance) in an oracle bone script-inspired style. On either side of the spade coin, the denomination “壹分” (1 cent) is inscribed in Chinese characters.

Starting in AD 1937 (the 26th year of the Republic of China), with the full outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Central Mint originally located in Shanghai was progressively evacuated and dispersed to various branch facilities. By AD 1939 (the 28th year of the Republic), the production of copper coins bearing the Kuomintang party emblem was undertaken by the Guilin and Chengdu branches.

The distinguishing feature of the Guilin mint is that the stroke forming the character for “eight” in the date is rendered as a straight line, while at the Chengdu mint the initial stroke of the “eight” is noticeably curved.

物件編號: A3490

年代: 公元 1939 年

材質: 紅銅

尺寸: 25.7 x 25.8 x 1.5 mm

重量: 6.5 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是一枚標示為民國28年 (公元1939年)，中央造幣廠桂林分廠以紅銅為原料鑄造的壹分硬幣。

錢幣正面的中央為中國國民黨的黨徽，上緣鐫刻發行年份「中華民國二十八年」。外圍以中國古代經常出現在青銅器上的回字紋作為裝飾。

錢幣背面的周圍亦以回字紋作為裝飾，正中間是春秋戰國時代流通，並且被國民政府用作財政部符號的布幣圖騰，布幣內還有仿造甲骨文的「財」字。布幣的兩側以漢字標示面額「壹分」。

民國26年(公元1937年)起，隨著中日戰爭全面爆發，原先位於上海的中央造幣廠陸續疏散到各個分廠。民國28年(公元1939年)，由桂林和成都分廠負責鑄造黨徽銅幣。

桂林廠的特色為年份「八」為筆直的一撇，成都廠的年份「八」開頭則有明顯的彎曲。