| Value | Oneyuan (壹圆/壹圓) |
|---|---|
| Mass | 25.80 g |
| Diameter | 39 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Composition | Silver |
| Years of minting | ROC 17 (1928) |
| Mintage | 648,000 |
| Obverse | |
 | |
| Design | Zhou Xicheng's car driving on a road, with grass along the front arranged to spell his personal name |
| Reverse | |
 | |
| Design | Chinese text surrounding a central flower motif |
| Auto Dollar | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 貴州汽車幣 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 贵州汽车币 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Guizhou automobile coin | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 汽車錢 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 汽车钱 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Automobile money | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
TheAuto Dollar (Chinese:汽車錢;lit. 'Automobile coin', also known as贵州汽车币; 'Guizhou car coin' orKweichow Auto Dollar in English)[1] is a silver oneyuan coin minted by ChinesewarlordZhou Xicheng [zh] in 1928 to commemorate the construction of roadways inGuizhou province. Theobverse of the coin features anautomobile driving along a road, flanked by grass arranged to spell out Zhou's personal name, Xicheng (西成).
Zhou rose to power in Guizhou in 1927, during the political and military upheaval of theWarlord Era. He had acquired the rural province's first known automobile, oversaw the construction of roadways across the region, and saw the foundation of a mint and arsenal inGuiyang. Unlike other Chinese warlords, he never commissioned coinage featuring his image. Although some sources described Zhou's automobile as a soft-topped model from theHudson Motor Car Company, the vehicle featured on the coin does not appear to closely correspond to any specific make or model. 648,000 coins of the type were produced at the Guiyang mint. The coin fell out of regular circulation in the early 1930s, partially due to demand from internationalcoin collectors. The Auto Dollar is a rare and heavilycounterfeited type; a certified example graded inmint condition sold for US$336,000 at a 2023 auction.
Prior to the late 19th century,silver coinage in China was largely limited to imported foreign coins, used alongside coppercash coins and thesycee silveringot currency. Large-scale domestic production of silver coins began around 1890 inGuangdong in order to compete with foreign silver. By 1910, provincial silvermints had emerged in around half of the Chinese provinces. The introduction of centrally produced silver coinage by theQing government was delayed due to the uncertain primacy of thetael ordollar (圓;yuán) as a base monetary standard. The central mint atTianjin only produced limited quantities of 'Dragon Dollars' before the1911 Revolution, and was destroyed the following year. Central coinage entered production again in 1915, but was stifled by the emergence of theWarlord Period. A unified national coinage system would not be achieved until 1932–1933, with theNationalist government opening theShanghai Central Mint.[2][3]
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Displacing the dragon dollar designs were coins featuring the busts of influential political and military leaders. Coins featuring depictions ofSun Yat-sen (such as theMemento dollar) andYuan Shikai (theYuan Shikai dollar) were common in the early years of the Republic. Other figures were featured on various copper, silver, and gold coins, often intended as commemorative pieces rather than circulating currency. Regional warlords such asTang Jiyao,Lu Rongting,Duan Qirui,Cao Kun, andZhang Zuolin commissioned coinage featuring themselves to commemorate their achievements and boost their political prestige during the political and military turmoil of the late 1910s and 1920s.[4]
Yuan Zuming [zh] served as the military governor ofGuizhou province until his death at the hands of Nationalist forces in 1927 for an alleged lack of loyalty. Following this, his nominal lieutenantZhou Xicheng [zh] assumed full control of the province. Zhou, already a prominent civil governor and warlord, aligned closely with the Nationalist government and invested heavily in Guizhou's civil infrastructure.[5] He imported the province's first known automobile around 1926, described in the memoirs of engineering advisorOliver Julian Todd as a "seven-seater American automobile".[6] Some sources describe this car as a "soft-top" model produced by theHudson Motor Car Company.[7] In addition to large scale road construction across the province, Zhou sponsored various infrastructure and construction projects inGuiyang. Among these included the construction of anarsenal and a small mint in the city.[8]
No mints existed in Guizhou during the early 1920s, and it relied on coinage produced in other provinces. Before the Guiyang mint opened, a provisional mint was established in southern Guizhou in 1926 using machinery and coin dies taken from theChengdu mint [zh] in the adjacent province ofSichuan.[9] In large part due to the machinery and technicians provided by the local arsenal, the mint in Guiyang was able to produce coinage by 1928.[8] Unlike many other regional warlords in China, Zhou never commissioned coinage featuring his image. This may have been due to a desire to avoid association with other warlords and emphasize his loyalty to the Nationalist government.[8]
Although serving to recognize Zhou's reputation for road construction more generally, the Auto Dollar is thought to memorialize the 1928 completion of aprovincial highway in Guizhou. The Guiyang mint produced the coin only for that year. The obverse features an automobile driving along a road, with grass in the foreground arranged to spell out Xicheng (西成), his personal name, when the coin is tilted 90 degrees.[10][11][12] Although it was intended as a representation of Zhou's car, the vehicle featured on the coin does not perfectly match its description; it is depicted with a hard-topped roof and a design that does not match any specific make or model.[10][13] The car and grass design is encircled by a pearled ring. Surrounding this is text naming the Guizhou government as the issuer, as well as the coin's silver weight—sevenmace and twocandareens.[14]
The reverse features Chinese text surrounding a centralrosette seal associated withSichuan's republic coinage. Surrounding the central seal are four characters reading "Guizhou Silver Coin" (貴州銀幣;Guìzhōu yínbì). A knotted circle surrounds the central characters, above which is given theChinese Republican calendar date, 17 (1928AD). At the bottom, the denomination (壹圓;yī yuán; 'one yuan') is given. Two smallrosettes are found along the sides of both the obverse and reverse. Struck in silver, the coin has a weight of 25.8 g (0.9 oz) and a diameter of 39 mm (1.5 in). A total of 648,000 coins were issued.[14][15]
Somevarieties exist of the coin, differing through minor distinctions in the rendering of the car, grass, and text. The lines along the car's hood are usually curving towards the top, but remaining straight in some varieties. Two blades of grass are visible along the curb in the bottom-right corner in most varieties, but three are visible in one variety. Another variety depicts additionalspokes on the car's wheels.[14]
The coin became popular withcoin collectors soon after its release. By the early 1930s, the coin had become increasingly scarce in circulation due to demand from international collectors.[11] One of the coins, gradedAU 53 by theNumismatic Guaranty Company, auctioned for US$192,000 in January 2022.[16] In June 2023, this record was broken by an MS 62-graded example (the second-highest grade of any known Auto Dollar), which auctioned for US$336,000 at the Hong Kong International Numismatic Fair.[17]
Due to the coin's rarity, they are commonlycounterfeited. Counterfeit examples are typically of higher quality and consistency, due to the endemicdie flaws and poor metal quality within the original issue.[16][18]