Yuan Datou Silver Circle is a common name for a silver circle with Yuan Shikai's head engraved on the front and a golden harvest map cast on the back. It is the national currency determined by 19 14 (in the third year of the Republic of China) in February by the Beiyang government, and it has a certain position in the history of China silver dollar.
Background of Yuan Datou Silver Coin In the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial court was unable to resist the invasion of foreign powers, and foreign currency was used in China, losing its monetary autonomy. At home, the central government's control over local governments is weakening day by day. In order to strengthen their financial resources and expand their military strength, local governors in various provinces have also made coins and issued them, and monetary finance is very chaotic. 19 12 years, the Republic of China was founded, and Sun Yat-sen was appointed as the interim president, which made Jiangnan Mint under the management of the Ministry of Finance, and advocated that the right to coin was centralized in the central government and a fixed currency system began. Soon, with the support of Chinese and foreign reactionary forces, Yuan Shikai forced Sun Yat-sen to abdicate on April 1st of the first year of the Republic of China, so the currency system was not rectified. After Yuan Shikai became president, there were three reasons for the Beiyang government to carry out currency reform: First, although Sun Yat-sen resigned as interim president, he went to Beijing for talks with Yuan Shikai 19 13 times on August 24th, 2002 at the invitation of Yuan Shikai. On February 3, 65438, the same year, Sun Yat-sen sent out a message of "launching a coin revolution to fight against Russian aggression". Second, Xiong Xiling, Prime Minister of Beiyang Government, and Zhang Jian, Chief Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. In view of the complexity of coins and paper money at that time, there were more than 100 kinds of Chinese and foreign currencies circulating in the market, each with its own circulation scope and different specifications, and the conversion was cumbersome, which was not convenient for tax collection, reimbursement and exchange. Market panic, people hold grudges and advocate currency reform. Third, in order to solve the military expenditure, Yuan Shikai also needed the help of money, and took the opportunity to cast his head on the face of money to improve his political status. On July 15, the first year of the Republic of China, the Beiyang government set up a monetary system committee to study and formulate a monetary system reform plan. In 2000 1 month 14, the articles of association of the Monetary Committee were drafted and the members were adjusted. After a period of heated debate, Xiong Xiling's cabinet put forward a unified monetary system based on the silver standard in 19 14 17. There are four standards to choose from, namely gold and silver standard, gold standard, gold exchange standard and silver standard. 19 14 On February 7th, the President issued the National Monetary Regulations and the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the National Monetary Regulations. The point is that the right to mint and issue national currency belongs entirely to the government. The government changed the one-dollar silver coin minted by the old official bureau into national currency, but in a certain period of time, it was considered as the same price as the national currency. The national currency is mainly silver coins, weighing six cents, four cents and eight cents. The total weight after casting with silver nine and copper one (later changed to silver 89 and copper 1 1) is seven cents and two cents. The form of national currency, silver coin, was promulgated by Fatwa. After that, it was decided to engrave Yuan Shikai's profile head and release year number on the front, and cast golden harvest patterns and currency on the back. There are four kinds of national currencies: silver coins: one circle, half circle, two horns and one dime; A nickel: five cents; There are five kinds of copper coins: two cents, one cent, five cents, two cents and one cent. The national currency is calculated in decimal system, with one tenth of a circle as an angle, one percent as a minute and one thousandth as a centimeter. Since the promulgation of the National Monetary Regulations, in the same year, Yuan Datou one-dollar silver coins were first cast in Tianjin Mint, and then successively in Nanjing, Guangdong, Wuchang and other mints. Because Yuan Datou's one-dollar silver coin has the same currency, brand-new pattern, accurate weight and color, easy to identify and other characteristics, it was quickly accepted by the public and circulated everywhere.
The main versions of "Yuan Datou" one-dollar silver coin are numerous in the version of Yuan Datou one-dollar silver coin, so I choose to describe it now. First, the main edition of the three-year edition of the Republic of China has a profile of Yuan Shikai on the front, which lists "Three Years of the Republic of China". There is no word "made" after the word "year", and all other versions have the word "made" after the word "year". The three-year version of the word "person" has a "point", while other versions have no "point". The three-year edition has two kinds of molds, the old mold with 185 side teeth and the new mold with 170 side teeth. Both of them have a large amount of casting and belong to the general circulation version. There are also several versions with less casting quantity: 1. Type o license plate. That is to say, there is an "O" inscription on the golden harvest pattern, a horizontal "8" at the golden harvest knot, a tiny "O" circle in the upper left hole, and Yuan Xiang's chin front collar is unsealed, with wide epaulettes and five-star protrusions. 2. Rough version. Yuan has thick hair and wavy hairstyle. Jiahe knot belt does not form a crisscross "8" knot, but an irregular circle is formed on the right side of a bunch of Jiahe knot belts. 3. Triangular circular plate. The word "mouth" in the circle on the back of this coin forms the shape of "△", and other versions are "Si". 4. Open shell version. The bottom horizontal line of the word "shell" in the word "circle" of this coin is not connected with the vertical pen, forming an "open shell". There are obvious stripes on Yuan Xiang's epaulettes in this edition, and there is a straight line from top to bottom in Yuan's eyes, commonly known as "open eyes", which is also unknown in other editions. 5. Add the word "Gansu". This coin was cast by Lanzhou Mint in Gansu Province, imitating the old model of the three-year edition of the Republic of China. The word "Gansu" was cast around Yuan Xiang, and the rest were open-shell versions, with only tens of thousands of pieces cast. 6. Signature version. This is a sample coin cast by Tianjin Mint, and it didn't flow through. The coin is engraved with a vertical line of English letters "L.GioRGi" on the right side of the statue, which is the abbreviation of the signature of "Rurgi Giorgio", a foreign coinage expert and Italian sculptor in China. 7. "T" side, Eagle Sea. These two kinds of coins are trial-cast samples of Tianjin Mint General Factory. The front and back patterns are the same as those of the general Yuan Datou in circulation, only the side teeth are T-shaped or eagle-shaped. Second, among the major editions of Yuan Datou in the eighth year of the Republic of China, the ordinary edition has a large circulation, the steel molds are made in foreign countries, the writing conforms to the structure of Chinese characters, the fonts are unchanged, and Jiahe is standardized and orderly. One feature is that the front element looks like a corsage, with a thin tooth on the inside of the front, and there is no gap (there are gaps in other editions). In addition, there are several versions that are less cast, mainly because the word "made" is written differently: 1. The third stroke of the word "Zao" protrudes vertically from the fourth stroke, forming the word "Niu", but it is not connected with the word "Kou" below, so it is called "Niu" version. 2. Some words "Niu" and "Kou" are linked together, so they are called joint mouth books. 3. The word "mouth" in the word "made" lacks a horizontal line, forming a gap, which is called engraving. 4. The word "mouth" in the word "made" is very flat, and there is no hole in the word "mouth", which is called the version without mouth. Thirdly, the nine-year edition of the Republic of China mainly has two versions: the unsealed version of Yuan Xiang and the big ear version. The former is a common version with more casting quantity, while the latter has less casting quantity. The big ear version means that Yuan Xiang's ears are bigger than other versions, and the collar is all sealed. Fourthly, the main edition of the 10-year edition of the Republic of China is an ordinary edition of the 10-year edition, with little difference in patterns and characters from ordinary Yuan Datou, and a large amount of casting. In addition, some points in the word "Nian" are written vertically or in the shape of "7", but the casting quantity is small. In addition to the above versions, there are many similar versions of "Yuan Datou" one-dollar silver coin, so it is hard for me to say all of them.
The Historical Position and Function of "Yuan Datou" Silver Circle Yuan Datou is the largest number of silver circles cast and the longest circulating time in the history of China silver circle, which undeniably played a certain historical role. First of all, the issuance of Yuan Datou played a role in resisting foreign silver coins. After the issuance of Yuan Datou, ordinary people would rather use their own currency than "foreign currency". For example 19 19, during the May 4th anti-imperialist climax, the Shanghai Money Association announced the use of Yuan Datou, which boycotted foreign currency to some extent. Secondly, the issuance of Yuan Datou has restrained the phenomenon of making all kinds of silver coins in China to some extent. Because the "National Currency Regulations" promulgated at that time clearly stipulated: "The right to cast and issue national currency belongs exclusively to the government. The government changed the one-dollar silver coin minted by the old government office into national currency. All public funds will be in national currency. " Later, in 19 17, Yuan Datou was officially designated as the currency of tax basis, further consolidating the status of Yuan Datou as the largest currency. This objectively makes the phenomenon of making all kinds of silver coins converge everywhere. Thirdly, the issue of Yuan Datou changed the chaotic situation of incomplete parallel standard of silver and copper in Qing Dynasty. The parallel standard of silver and copper is to use silver and copper as monetary materials and cast them into money respectively. However, the specifications of copper coins are not uniform, and the casting color and weight calculation units of tattoo silver are different everywhere, which will inevitably lead to a situation of diverse currencies, different prices and complicated conversion. After the issuance of Yuan Datou, the specifications and color were unified, and on this basis, the monetary system was unified for a period of time, and the disorder was slightly improved. Fourthly, Yuan Datou played a role in easing the economic division among warlords. After Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor, the formal unification of the Republic of China has also collapsed, with warlords fighting each other, taking their own needs and doing their own things, and controlling and competing with each other economically. At this time, Yuan Datou was still able to pass through most parts of China, which played a good role in material exchange in most parts of the country and objectively eased the situation of warlord economic separatism. Fifth, the issuance of Yuan Datou has played a positive role in financing monetary funds and restoring and developing production. Yuan Datou minted a lot of silver coins. According to the statistics of Nanjing Mint, Yuan Datou 3798 192 10 yuan was minted in this factory from February of the 4th year of the Republic of China to two years of the 5th year of the Republic of China. Although there is no comprehensive data on the number of foundries in China, it can be seen from the number of foundries in Nanjing Mint that Yuan Datou has the largest number of foundries in the history of Chinese silver coins, which basically met the needs of market circulation at that time. However, the casting and circulation period in Yuan Datou was a period of warlord scuffle. The semi-feudal and semi-colonial social nature of China has not changed, and the currency disorder has not and cannot be fundamentally changed. All kinds of domestic silver coins, silver coins, copper coins and paper money are still mixed with foreign silver coins and paper money. Only under the leadership of China's * * * production party, after overthrowing the three mountains of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism, People's Republic of China (PRC) was established, and an independent, unified and stable monetary system was truly realized.