
**One Wild Panda**
The newest addition to my collection is a 2003 Chinese Silver Panda. This series started back in 1983 with a different design featured each year. Minted in China, a denomination of 10 Yuan, 1 oz of .999 silver, 40 mm diameter with a reeded edge. This one has a mintage of 600,000 and has two versions. The"frosted bamboo" version, which is the one I have and the "mirrored bamboo" version. This reflects the part of the coin behind the panda in the design.
The obverse features the Temple of Heaven's Hall of Prayer for Abundant Harvests with two inscriptions, "People's Republic of China," which is in Chinese characters and the date "2003". The reverse shows an adult panda crawling through a bamboo field with the coins value, weight and purity listed.Now what was kinda funny to me when I looked at this coin in the shop was that I really don't care for pandas... Now give me a polar bear or a big grizzly bear, that I like! Also, China is not my "go to" country when it comes to coins for a list of reasons that I won't go into here... But this coin caught my eye! It has the most amazing toning and I like toning! Originally it was in an album, encapsulated in an airtight that somehow got cracked. This over time let oxygen seep in and the long term result is this wild toning! Cool, right!Anyway, that's it... Not a fan of pandas or China and yet this coin had my name written all over it.. ; )Thanks for reading my blog! Hope you enjoyed it.
Comments
AC coin$
Level 6
Keen eyes for coins .
thatcoinguy
Level 5
Pretty toning!
Longstrider
Level 6
That is one wild coin. Nice eyes. Must be even more amazing in hand. Thanks!
Long Beard
Level 5
You and I have similar collecting strategies. The Panda series is a very nice, and popular, series to collect. And that one was a wise choice.
CoinHunter
Level 5
Nice coin! I wonder how it could get such interesting toning...
Longstrider
Level 6
Read the blog. It's in the last four lines. You must have skimmed by it.
CheerioCoins
Level 5
Nice! I was at a coin show a few weeks ago and I was tempted to get one of the silver pandas but didn't.
slybluenote
Level 5
Great post Kepi ! I also am not a "world coin" collector or a big fan of toning, but I have to agree this is a very nice looking coin! I would have definitely thought twice about purchasing it if I had came across it at a dealer! Thanks for sharing!
Mike
Level 7
You know how to pick them. Greg looking coin. I have always wished we had a dealer near me. Your lucky! I like the toning and I'm not big on that but this is different it's light not heavy. Thanks again!
Golfer
Level 5
Very nice coin. I don't collect them, but they have some nice coins.
"SUN"
Level 6
Interesting toning.
World_Coin_Nut
Level 5
Very nice. I don't collect Panda's but I like how they change up the design every year.
I. R. Bama
Level 5
That's a beautiful coin! Unique!
It's Mokie
Level 6
Wow, what a beautiful coin, Kepi. That toning is interesting, thanks for sharing.