China - Provincial. HUNAN: Kuang Hsu, 1875-1908, AE 10 cash, ND (1902), KM-Pn5, CL-HUN.98, CCC-193, Duan-702, copper pattern issue by the Heaton Mint, three characters at bottom, without dot between Manchu words, lustrous surfaces with vibrant notes of purple and orange, the single finest example at PCGS and a fantastic example of this rare issue! PCGS graded Specimen 64 BN, RR.
This pattern was produced in 1902 at the Heaton Mint in Birmingham for a proposed brass coinage that was ultimately not adopted. The dies were then recut from the three characters (huáng tóng yuán, "brass yuan") to two (tóng yuán, "copper yuan") and struck in copper for circulation (Y-112.12).
