China (Republic) Memento Dollar (Yuan) 1912

China was an Empire before 1912 and became a Republic that year. Afterwards, in 1949, a Communistic government took over. Your coin commemorates the transition from Empire to Republic and there are (at least) two versions of the coin, one minted in 1912 and the other in 1927.

Estimating value of Chinese coins is subject to many current-day factors: (1) new interest shakes up the rare coin market in Chinese coinage as the country enters the world scene as an economic power, (2) incomplete listings in the general coin catalogs, requiring specialized catalogs that are not readily available, and (3) a tremendous Chinese counterfeiting industry that has arisen in the past 10 year.

Beware of counterfeits. Get a precise weight for your coin (see below). There is really only one good way to deal with fakes: deal only with people you trust implicitly. This usually means building long-time relationships with buyers and sellers. There are also professional coin authenticators who will determine real/fake status for a fee.

If your coin is counterfeit it is worth zero. If genuine, the value will depend on a small nuance. Look at the symbols on the side without the portrait. Do you see that one is a five-pointed star and the other is a rosette? The five-pointed star is the valuable one. It was minted in 1912. The rosette was minted in 1927. Here are typical catalog values (be sure to use our Important Terminology page to convert these catalog values to actual values):

FIVE POINTED STAR (minted in 1912, genuine coins weigh 26.9 grams)
worn: $600
average circulated: $3000
well preserved: $8000
fully uncirculated: $15000

ROSETTE (minted in 1927, genuine coins weigh 26.7 grams)
worn: $50
average circulated: $100
well preserved: $350
fully uncirculated: $750

Hope you have the good one!

If you have a nice looking example of this coin, seek out a knowledgeable collector or coin dealer for an in-person appraisal.
cqLastNotify