Item number: A4668-1、A4668-2

Reference number: Kann#145/186; L&M#345/444; Y#238

Year: AD 1897-1902

Material: Stainless Steel

The results after XRF testing (A4668-1)

The results after XRF testing (A4668-2)

Size: 38.5 x 38.5 x 31.7 mm (A4668-1), 38.5 x 38.5 x 37.9 mm (A4668-2)

Weight: 310.15 g (A4663-1), 395.4 g (A4663-2)

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2008

These two artefacts constitute a pair of coinage dies: the obverse die features the dragon motif from the Szechuen Province Guangxu Yuanbao, whilst the reverse die bears the typographic design from the Peiyang Arsenal One Dollar of the 23rd Year of Kuang Hsü.

The engraved faces of these dies present negative mirror images of the struck coins. At the centre of the obverse die face is a five-clawed imperial coiled dragon enveloped in clouds, exhaling a flaming pearl. Circumscribed along the upper periphery is the English legend ‘SZECHUEN PROVINCE’, indicating the administrative origin of mintage; along the lower periphery runs ‘7 MACE AND 2 CANDEREENS’, denoting the denomination of seven mace and two candareens, with both circumferential legends separated by central-stemless four-petalled rosettes. According to Chinese Maritime Customs service records, this specific variety was likely struck after circa AD 1902.

At the centre of the reverse die face, the Chinese characters ‘Yi Yuan’ (One Dollar) are arranged vertically to denote the face value. Demarcated by an inner beaded border is a concentric inscription in Manchu script reading: ‘ᡩᠠᡳ᠌ᠴᡳᠩ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ ᠪᠠᡩᠠᡵᠠᠩᡤᠠ ᡩᠣᡵᠣ ᡳ ᠣᡵᡳᠨ ᡳᠯᠠᠴᡳ ᠠᠨᡳᠶᠠ ᠠᠮᠠᡵᡤᡳ ᠨᠠᠮᡠ ᡳ ᡨᡝᡨᡠᠨ ᠸᡝᡳᠯᡝᡵᡝ ᡴᡡᠸᠠᡵᠠᠨ ᠸᡝᡳᠯᡝᡥᡝ’ (Daicing gurun Badarangga doro-i orin ilaci aniya amargi namu tetun weilere kūaran weilehe), which translates literally as ‘Made in the twenty-third year of Badarangga Doro of the Great Qing State by the Northern Sea Machinery Manufacturing Bureau’, oriented clockwise from top to right. Enclosed by an outer beaded ring is the Chinese legend ‘Great Qing * Twenty-third Year of Guangxu * Made by the Peiyang Arsenal *’, read counter-clockwise from the top to the left, with each semantic phrase demarcated by hexagrams.

Both obverse and reverse peripheries feature inwardly directed denticles intended to safeguard the raised design from abrasive wear, with the denticles on the obverse being noticeably denser and shorter than those on the reverse.

With the exception of their engraved faces, the structural morphology of both coining dies is largely identical, although the obverse die features a comparatively longer shank whereas the reverse die possesses a shorter one. The outermost perimeter of each die face features a concave rim gutter (or rim cavity), into which the coin blank’s metal flows under striking pressure to form the raised protective rim of the coin. Extending between the edge of the die face and the die neck is a minute angled facet, termed the bevel or chamfer, which serves to alleviate edge stress concentration during mechanical striking and thereby mitigate the risk of catastrophic die breaks (cuds). The die neck, positioned immediately beneath the bevel, comprises a slightly tapered or extended short cylindrical transition. Below the neck lies the die shoulder, which flares gently outwards to meet the full diameter of the die body. The shank consists of a robust, heavy cylindrical shaft designed to absorb the kinetic shock of coining, with lateral grooves machined into its flank to accommodate the mechanical keyway and tenon assembly within the coinage press.

Modern machine-struck coinage in Sichuan commenced in the 22nd year of the Guangxu reign (AD 1896), when Governor-General Lu Chuanlin petitioned the imperial court to establish a silver dollar bureau within the Chengdu Arsenal to reform the province’s chaotic traditional silver sycee (liang) system and halt the outward drain of fiscal wealth. The complete suite of minting machinery was procured through the American Trading Company in Shanghai, with the contract ultimately awarded to the Ferracute Machine Company of New Jersey, United States. The initial coining dies were privately commissioned by Ferracute from Charles E. Barber, Chief Engraver of the United States Mint at Philadelphia, using the Guangdong dragon dollar as a design prototype. In the spring of the 24th year of Guangxu (AD 1898), the American mechanical engineer Henry Janvier arrived in China with the equipment; whilst navigating up the Yangtze River, his cargo was caught in severe flooding at Yichang, leaving the shipments submerged on the riverbank for six weeks. This catastrophic immersion rendered the machinery heavily seized by corrosion, and the accompanying steel dies were thoroughly damaged by rust. Having overhauled, dismantled, and cleaned the machinery, Janvier completed trial press runs in July of that year. Anxious to avoid administrative complications and the delay of ordering replacement dies from abroad, he struck a small quantity of pattern coins using the rusted dies for official acceptance. However, before the new currency could be released into general circulation, the Qing court issued an imperial edict in June of the following year (AD 1899) decreeing that individual provincial mints cease autonomous silver mintage, centralising production exclusively at the Hubei and Guangdong mints. Consequently, operations at the Sichuan Silver Dollar Bureau were suspended, and all dies and mint machinery were sealed within the provincial treasury.

In the 27th year of Guangxu (AD 1901), Governor-General Kui Jun submitted an imperial memorial arguing that because Sichuan was geographically isolated and obstructed by hazardous mountain passages, relying on adjacent provinces for specie transport was utterly unviable. Having secured imperial sanction to re-establish the mint, provincial authorities drew loans from the treasury, dispatched an inspection delegation to Hubei, and formally resumed the striking of seven mace and two candareens ‘Guangxu Yuanbao’ silver dollars in October of that year, establishing branch bureaux in Chengdu and Chongqing the following year to oversee circulation and exchange. During the initial implementation phase, local merchants and residents remained staunchly accustomed to unminted silver bullion, whilst entrenched exchange houses (qianzhuang) fiercely defended their lucrative margins. Consequently, the newly issued silver dollars encountered profound commercial resistance, with large volumes even being melted down into local sycee (Chuan-ding), rendering currency circulation exceedingly difficult. Concurrently, because the original American steel dies were ruined by rust and local Chengdu artisans lacked the sophisticated technical capability to hub working dies from master matrices, dies had to be manually carved, copied, or re-engraved by native craftsmen. Owing to substantial disparities in engraving skill across successive periods, the striking process yielded numerous structural errors and design inconsistencies—including inverted Latin lettering and crude detailing—which in turn gave rise to a vast proliferation of distinct ‘Szechuen Dragon’ numismatic varieties.

The production of one-dollar principal coins of seven mace and two candareens at the Sichuan Mint exhibited a turbulent trajectory, initially declining before experiencing a sharp resurgence. Across the 27th and 28th years of the Guangxu reign (AD 1901–1902), combined output reached approximately 1.4 million pieces. Subsequently, hobbled by commercial resistance and persistent disputes regarding silver purity conversion ratios, market absorption waned dramatically, depressing mintage to 780,000 pieces in the 29th year, 320,000 in the 30th year, and to an absolute nadir of 220,000 pieces in the 31st year. Thereafter, through rigorous official enforcement and the establishment of a fixed statutory rate setting one dollar equivalent to seven mace and one candareen of Chongqing-scale silver, the dollar’s transactional credibility and public circulation stabilised. Output rebounded aggressively: surging to 1.08 million pieces in the 32nd year, peaking at 1.49 million in the 33rd year, and sustaining an output of 1.18 million in the 34th year. In aggregate, the Chengdu Mint produced roughly 6.48 million Guangxu Yuanbao one-dollar coins during the Guangxu period; when combined with the approximately 2.85 million ‘Xuantong Yuanbao’ dollars produced during the subsequent Xuantong reign, the Sichuan Arsenal struck roughly 9.33 million seven-mace-two-candareen dragon dollars across the decade spanning from its AD 1901 re-establishment to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in AD 1911.

In late imperial China, the term ‘Peiyang’ did not designate a formal administrative territorial unit, but rather derived from the post of ‘Minister of Northern Coastal Trade’ (Beiyang Tongshang Dachen) instituted by the court during the Xianfeng and Tongzhi eras following the Second Opium War. Concurrently held by convention by the Governor-General of Zhili, this official presided over foreign affairs, modernisation enterprises, and naval coastal defence across Zhili, Fengtian, and Shandong provinces. Under the late Qing monetary system, China operated under a parallel bimetallic regime wherein silver bullion and cast copper cash circulated independently without an officially fixed legal exchange ratio, further exacerbated by the decentralisation of coining privileges across disparate provincial bureaux. From the mid-nineteenth century onward, foreign machine-struck silver trade coins—such as Spanish Carolus pillar dollars and Mexican cap-and-ray pesos—inundated treaty ports along the coast and inland waterways, swiftly supplanting traditional weighed silver bullion owing to their unit-counted convenience and standardised fineness. Although the provincial capital of Zhili resided at Baoding, the epicentre of modern Westernisation industries and finance was concentrated in Tianjin. To counteract the fiscal encroachment of foreign trade coins, alleviate chronic stringencies in the copper cash market, and procure vital military expenditures, successive Governors-General of Zhili—serving concurrently as Ministers of Northern Coastal Trade—leveraged Tianjin’s established military-industrial base to import Western minting technology, inaugurating machine-struck coinage shortly after Jilin and Guangdong.

In the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign (AD 1867), the Peiyang Arsenal (the East Bureau of the Tianjin Machine Works) was founded at Jiajiagudao to the east of Tianjin as one of the three pre-eminent armaments complexes of the Qing empire. In the 13th year of Guangxu (AD 1887), it imported coining presses from Greenwood & Batley in the United Kingdom to conduct trial strikes of square-holed brass cash, though operations were swiftly halted due to losses arising from escalating copper costs. Reorganised at the close of the 21st year of Guangxu (early AD 1896) as the General Administration of the Peiyang Arsenal, it utilised legacy coining machinery in July of the 22nd year (AD 1896) to improvise trial mintings of fractional silver currency before procuring additional machinery to strike full-weight dollar coins, thereby inaugurating the first modern Western-style mint in northern China. However, during the Boxer Uprising of the 26th year of Guangxu (AD 1900), this facility was bombarded and ruined amidst the turmoil surrounding the legation sieges. In the 28th year of Guangxu (AD 1902), Yuan Shikai assumed the Governor-Generalship of Zhili and established the ‘Peiyang Silver Dollar Head Mint’ at an entirely new site at Xiyaowa, Hebei. Following the consolidation of provincial mints by the Ministry of Revenue (Hubu) in the 32nd year, it was renamed the ‘Zhili Hubu Coining North Branch Mint’, and in the 33rd year, under ministerial reorganisation, became the ‘Ministry of Finance (Dushubu) Tianjin Mint’. Silver dollar mintage was discontinued there during the Xuantong reign, and in the early Republican era the facility was amalgamated into the Central Mint as the ‘West Factory’, dedicated exclusively to copper token coinage. Concurrently, in the 29th year of Guangxu (AD 1903), the Qing court resolved to systematise national currency by establishing the ‘Head Mint for Silver and Copper Coins’ under direct central authority at Dajing Road, Tianjin, which commenced full operations in the 31st year. Having unified imperial coinage rights under the central government throughout the Xuantong period, it was burnt down by mutinous soldiers during the Beijing Mutiny of the first year of the Republic (AD 1912), before being reconstructed in the third year of the Republic (AD 1914) as the ‘East Factory’, specialising in silver dollar manufacture.

Regarding denominations, the Guangxu Yuanbao struck by the Peiyang Arsenal between the 22nd and 24th years departed from the weight-based Kuping system universalised by Guangdong, pioneering instead a decimal face-value counting system based on ‘Yuan’ and ‘Jiao’, comprising a five-piece denomination set: One Dollar, Five Jiao, Two Jiao, One Jiao, and Half Jiao. However, because the mint was an embryonic annex to an ordnance factory with incomplete manufacturing refinements, the trial-struck One Dollar coins disbursed as military pay in the 22nd year of Guangxu were rejected by commercial money shops due to substandard fineness; they were promptly recalled and melted down by the authorities, rendering surviving specimens of that date exceptionally scarce. Furthermore, despite its official designation as a ‘silver dollar’ bureau, from its AD 1902 re-establishment onwards the mint prioritised the striking of 10-cash and 20-cash copper tokens as its primary commercial business, driven by acute market shortages of small cash and the far superior seigniorage profits yielded by copper over silver. Silver dollar output remained erratic, and for numerous fiscal years production operated under regulations set by Prince Qing (Yikuang), whereby the mint merely toll-struck bullion provided by private merchants—as evidenced by Maritime Customs records indicating that the more than 1.4 million seven-mace-two-candareens silver dollars struck in the 29th year of Guangxu were produced entirely from merchant-supplied bullion.

From the 25th year of Guangxu (AD 1899), the Peiyang Mint abandoned decimal counting denominations in compliance with imperial directives, reverting to traditional weight-denominated inscriptions. In the 26th year of Guangxu (AD 1900), the facilities were devastated by the Boxer Uprising, until the Peiyang Mint was formally reconstructed at Xiyaowa in the 29th year of Guangxu (AD 1903) to resume regular mintage.

Following the founding of the Republic, the Nanjing Provisional Government’s commemorative dollar bearing the effigy of Sun Yat-sen saw only limited mintage. In the third year of the Republic (AD 1914), the Beiyang Government promulgated the ‘National Currency Regulations’ to prepare for the striking of Yuan Shikai profile dollars; during the interregnum prior to the mass production and circulation of these ‘Yuan Datou’ coins, the Ministry of Finance issued an order in August AD 1914 mandating that provincial branch mints universally employ legacy dies of the 34th Year of Kuang Hsü to restrike large silver dollars as ‘interim national legal tender’. It was decreed that all official treasury transactions and commercial bank notes—with the exception of Shanghai—be pegged directly to the Peiyang dollar. Upon its reconstruction, the Tianjin Mint produced tens of millions of these coins, and supplemented by secondary production from the Nanjing and Wuchang provincial mints, Republican-era restrikes of the 34th Year Peiyang dragon dollar reached approximately 86 million pieces. This multi-mint production accounts for minute hubbing discrepancies and minor variations in silver fineness (statutorily 89 per cent pure, though actual circulating specimens generally tested around 88 per cent). The aggregate volume of late Qing silver dollars circulating across the market was estimated to have reached approximately two hundred million pieces.

Because the late Qing government had deployed the Peiyang Army southward during the Xinhai Revolution, and following the Republican administration’s designation of the coin as interim legal tender, the Peiyang dollar broke through its initial northern geographical boundaries to circulate widely throughout the Yangtze River valley and south-eastern coastal regions. This extensive penetration laid the institutional groundwork for the subsequent Yuan Shikai ‘national dollar’ to displace foreign trade dollars and disparate late Qing provincial issues, thereby establishing a unified national silver standard. Nevertheless, because the post-revolutionary authorities failed to implement the comprehensive ‘abolition of the tael in favour of the dollar’ (Feiliang Gaiyuan), the transactional value of silver dollars remained subordinated in day-to-day commerce to fictitious accounting units, notably the ‘Yangli’ premium quotes of the Shanghai money market, leaving the silver dollar’s status as the definitive standard unit precarious. It was not until the 22nd year of the Republic (AD 1933), when the Nationalist Government promulgated the ‘Silver Standard Coinage Law’ to formally abolish the tael and commission the Central Mint to strike Sun Yat-sen ‘junk’ dollars exclusively, that the silver tael and legacy imperial coinage were legally extinguished. Yet this reform was immediately destabilised by the global silver price surge induced by the United States Silver Purchase Act of AD 1933, which precipitated an outflow of domestic silver reserves exceeding two hundred million dollars within mere months. The resulting severe domestic deflation and industrial paralysis forced the Nationalist Government to implement the comprehensive Fabi paper currency reform in November AD 1935, nationalising all silver, terminating physical specie redemption, and definitively retiring precious-metal coinage from circulation.

物件編號: A4668-1、A4668-2

參考書目編號: Kann#145/186; L&M#345/444; Y#238

年代: 公元 1897-1902 年

材質: 不鏽鋼

XRF分析結果(A4668-1)

XRF分析結果(A4668-2)

尺寸: 38.5 x 38.5 x 31.7 mm (A4668-1), 38.5 x 38.5 x 37.9 mm (A4668-2)

重量: 310.15 g (A4663-1), 395.4 g (A4663-2)

來源: 福君錢幣 2008

這是兩件模具，錢幣正面模具為四川省造「光緒元寶」的正面龍圖，錢幣背面模具為「北洋機器局造光緒二十三年壹圓」的背面字圖。

模面為該幣成品的鏡像。錢幣正面模面中央是一條雲中盤捲的五爪蟠龍，口吐焰珠。上緣環列英文「SZECHUEN PROVINCE」，即製造地「四川省」；下緣環列「7 MACE AND 2 CANDEREENS」，即面額「七錢二分」，字段間以中央無梗的四瓣花飾分隔。依海關資料，該版式可能為約公元1902年後所鑄。

錢幣背面模面中央豎列漢文「壹圓」，是為面額。以珠圈相隔，環列滿文「ᡩᠠᡳ᠌ᠴᡳᠩ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ ᠪᠠᡩᠠᡵᠠᠩᡤᠠ ᡩᠣᡵᠣ ᡳ ᠣᡵᡳᠨ ᡳᠯᠠᠴᡳ ᠠᠨᡳᠶᠠ ᠠᠮᠠᡵᡤᡳ ᠨᠠᠮᡠ ᡳ ᡨᡝᡨᡠᠨ ᠸᡝᡳᠯᡝᡵᡝ ᡴᡡᠸᠠᡵᠠᠨ ᠸᡝᡳᠯᡝᡥᡝ」(Daicing gurun Badarangga doro-i orin ilaci aniya amargi namu tetun weilere kūaran weilehe)，直譯為「大清國光緒之第二十三年，由北洋之器械製造局所造」，由上而右順時針讀。以珠圈環繞，環列「大清﹡光緒二十三年﹡北洋機器局造﹡」，由上而左逆時針讀，字段間以六芒星分隔。

正背面幣緣均有細齒向內，作保護幣圖之用，正面較背面為密且短。

壓印正背面的兩個模具，形制除模面外基本一致，唯正面模具模身較長，背面模具模身較短。其模面外緣均有一圈凹溝，稱為緣槽（Rim Gutter / Rim Cavity），金屬受擠壓流入此溝槽後，形成錢幣外側凸起的保護邊環（Rim）。模面邊緣延伸至模頸之間，有一的微小的傾角削面，稱為倒角（Bevel / Chamfer），有助於在壓印時降低邊緣應力集中，減少邊緣崩裂（Cud）的風險。模頸則位於倒角下方，為稍作收窄或延伸的短圓柱段。模頸下方為模肩，稍微傾斜並擴增至模身的寬度。模身則為厚重的圓柱，為承受衝擊的主體，側邊則有凹槽，提供固定於機械上的榫卯結構。

四川近代機器鑄幣始於光緒二十二年（公元1896年），總督鹿傳霖為整飭川省雜亂的舊式銀兩體系並防止利權外流，奏請朝廷於成都機器局內擴建銀圓局。造幣廠整套機器設備由上海茂生洋行代為洽購，最終由美國新澤西州的漢立克納浦機器公司（Ferracute Machine Company）得標承製，印花鋼模則由該廠私下委請費城造幣廠總雕刻師巴伯（Charles E. Barber）以廣東龍洋為藍本雕造。光緒二十四年（公元1898年）春，美籍工程師強必爾運載設備抵華，經長江溯流而上時在宜昌遇江水暴漲，貨件沉浸江岸長達六週，機件嚴重鏽死，所附帶之鋼模亦全數受潮腐蝕。強必爾於同年七月克服設備拆洗修整完成試車，因恐添購新模再生波折，便以鏽蝕鋼模勉強壓製出少量樣幣呈交驗收，然而，未及新幣正式投放流通，清廷便於次年（公元1899年）六月降旨各省停止自鑄銀幣、悉歸湖北與廣東兩廠代鑄，川省銀圓局遂告停工，全部模具與機具封存於藩庫。

光緒二十七年（公元1901年），川督奎俊以四川地處偏遠、棧道險阻、仰仗鄰省運幣難以濟急為由，上奏力請重新復設銀圓局獲准。當局向藩庫借撥款項並派員赴鄂考察後，於同年十月正式開局復鑄七錢二分「光緒元寶」銀圓，次年更在成都與重慶設局統籌兌換事宜。初鑄推行之際，由於川省商民素來慣用散銀川錠，銀號錢莊盤剝利益糾結，新發行的銀圓在民間屢遭抵制，大量銀幣甚至被鎔毀回爐重鑄為銀錠，流通推展極為艱難。在模具方面，由於原廠美製鋼模鏽損廢棄，且當時成都廠工匠欠缺以翻模法轉製母模的成熟技術，只得由本地工匠依樣手雕或修整，加之各時期工匠水準不一，導致印製過程中錯漏百出，從而版別繁多。

四川造幣廠所鑄造的光緒元寶七錢二分一圓主幣呈現先抑後揚的曲折走勢。光緒二十七年復設與光緒二十八年（公元1901至1902年）兩年間，合計鑄造主幣約140萬枚；此後受民間流通受阻與成色折算爭議影響，市場吸納乏力致使產能驟降，光緒二十九年減產至78萬枚，三十年僅鑄32萬枚，至光緒三十一年更降至最低谷的22萬枚。此後，隨著官方強令推行並制定以渝平銀七錢一分折抵一圓的固定官價，銀圓信譽與使用習慣逐漸穩固，鑄量隨之報復性反彈，光緒三十二年激增至108萬枚，三十三年達到頂峰的149萬枚，三十四年亦保持118萬枚的產能。通計光緒朝成都造幣廠所造的一圓光緒元寶主幣總數約為648萬枚；若計入宣統年間所鑄造的約285萬枚「宣統元寶」一圓主幣，自光緒二十七年重啟爐灶至宣統三年（公元1901至1911年）清室傾覆的十年間，四川省機器局共計鑄造了約933萬枚七錢二分龍洋主幣。

清末「北洋」一詞並非正式行政區劃，而是源自第二次鴉片戰爭後清廷於咸豐、同治年間設立之「北洋通商大臣」，依慣例由直隸總督兼任，統轄直隸、奉天、山東三省涉外洋務與海防事務。在晚清貨幣體系中，中國長期處於銀錢平行本位狀態，白銀與制錢各自獨立流通而缺乏法定固定比價，加之鑄幣權分散於各省各局。十九世紀中葉以降，外國機制銀洋如西班牙雙柱、墨西哥鷹洋等大舉流入沿海沿江商埠，因其枚數計價、成色劃一的便利性迅速排擠傳統秤量銀兩。直隸省會雖在保定，但新式洋務實業與金融樞紐皆集中於天津，為了抵制外洋侵蝕利權、解決市面錢荒並籌措軍餉，兼任北洋大臣的直隸總督遂依託天津既有的軍火工業基礎，繼吉林、廣東之後，引進西式造幣機器，開鑄機制幣。

同治六年（公元1867年），北洋機器局（天津機器局東局）創辦於天津城東賈家沽道的，該局原為清代三大兵工廠之一。光緒十三年（公元1887年）曾自英國格林活鐵廠引進造幣機試造方孔制錢，旋因銅價上漲虧損停工；光緒二十一年底（公元1896年初）改稱總理北洋機器局，於光緒二十二年（公元1896年）七月因陋就簡利用舊造錢機試製角洋，隨後添購設備壓製主幣，成為北方近代西式造幣廠之始，但該局於光緒二十六年（公元1900年）庚子事變中，在拳民對奧匈帝國使館的圍攻下被波及而毀棄。光緒二十八年（公元1902年）袁世凱接任直隸總督，於河北西窯窪另闢新址設立「北洋鑄造銀元總局」，光緒三十二年戶部裁併造幣廠時改名「直隸戶部造幣北分廠」，光緒三十三年又隨部制改革更名為「度支部造幣津廠」，宣統年間停鑄銀圓，至民國初年併入造幣總廠稱為「西廠」，專事製造銅元。至光緒二十九年（公元1903年），清廷整頓幣制，建立由中央直轄之「鑄造銀錢總廠」（戶部／度支部造幣總廠），該廠於設於天津大經路，光緒三十一年開工。歷經宣統年間統攬全國鑄幣權，民國元年（公元1912年）北京兵變遭亂軍焚燬，至民國三年（公元1914年）重建為「東廠」專造銀圓。

北洋機器局所造光緒元寶，在面額計制上，於光緒二十二年至二十四年開鑄之初，打破了全國各省普遍依循廣東的庫平計重制，率先採用「圓、角」計數制，發行壹圓、五角、二角、一角及半角一套五枚；然而由於創辦之初附屬於兵工廠且設備未臻完備，光緒二十二年試鑄之大小銀圓當作軍餉發放時，壹圓主幣因成色不足而遭錢莊市面拒收，隨即被官方回收回爐重造，使得該年份銀幣存世極為罕見。此外，北洋銀圓局雖然冠以「銀圓」之名，但自光緒二十八年開辦以來，適逢民間小額制錢奇缺、鑄造銅元利潤遠高於銀幣，局方實質上長期以大量鑄行當十、當二十銅元為營利主業，銀幣生產時續時停，多數年份甚至是依照慶親王奕劻所定章程，接受民間商民繳納銀錠委託代鑄，例如海關報告所載光緒二十九年七錢二分銀幣一百四十餘萬枚，即全係商民備料代造。

光緒二十五年（公元1899年）起，北洋銀幣因應清廷規範，正式放棄圓、角等計數面額，回歸計重制。光緒二十六年（公元1900年），因旋即爆發的庚子事變，廠房被毀棄。光緒二十九年（公元1903年），北洋銀圓局於西窯窪成立，恢復鑄造。

民國建立後，南京臨時政府所鑄孫像開國紀念幣產能有限，民國三年（公元1914年）北洋政府公布《國幣條例》籌鑄袁像銀幣，在袁大頭正式量產流通之前的青黃不接之際，財政部於民國三年八月明令各省造幣分廠暫律採用光緒三十四年北洋造鋼模重鑄大銀圓，作為「中央代用主幣」，並規定官款出入與除上海以外之各銀行兌換券皆以北洋銀元為準；天津造幣廠重建之初即有數千萬枚產量，加之南京、武昌等省廠協鑄，民國時期重鑄的光緒三十四年龍洋達八千六百萬枚左右，各廠在翻製工作模時的細節差異與成色微調（法定八九成，實際流通多約八八成）。實際在市場上流通的晚清銀元總額可能達兩億元。

北洋銀幣因清政府調動北洋軍南行平定辛亥革命，加以民國建立後官方指定為代用國幣，打破了北方地域的限制，足跡遍及長江流域與東南沿海，替後續袁像「國幣」掃除外洋與前清雜洋、建立全國劃一的銀元本位奠定了基礎。然而，由於辛亥革命後未能徹底施行「廢兩改元」，銀元價值在實務上長期受制於上海「洋釐」等虛銀兩行情報價，主幣地位並不穩固。直至民國二十二年（公元1933年）國民政府頒布《銀本位幣鑄造條例》實施廢兩改元，改由中央造幣廠專鑄孫像船洋，銀兩與前清舊幣才在法律上正式壽終正寢。但這項改革隨即遭遇美國公元1933年《購銀法案》引發的國際白銀暴漲風暴，短短數月間國內存銀外流達兩億元以上，造成嚴重的通貨緊縮與百業蕭條，迫使國民政府於公元1935年11月全面實施法幣改革，宣布白銀國有並取消現金兌換，貴金屬主幣就此退出了流通。