New Article About The 1927 Memento Dollar

I have a question about a different Chinese coin.
I think I know, but want to confirm.
Regarding Fatman coinage:
Are there any legitimate coins of any denomination that would have the Year 10 in the upper obverse legend having only 6 characters?
I see a questionable coin on this forum, and my understanding is that Fatman coinage with the Year 10 would only be in a legend having 7 characters, but not six.

Yes I agree and that upper legend was the very first clue as to being non-genuine.
There's always the chance that my reference books may not include a coin here & there.
The coin is just a variation that doesn't look exactly like other fakes I have as well as not being found in my books.
It appears to be very well made.
No different than all the other 10 & 20 cent fakes I have.

Thank you, it really means a lot.




Military issue memento dollars are interesting. Military issue Chinese coin such as fatmans are usually made during the warlord era by powerful provincial warlords to pay for their own troops. However by 1927 the Nationalist's northern expedition has crushed most of the warlords.

Based on my current research, these are my ideas as to what created the military issue Memento Dollars:

They were made in remote provincial mints to pay for the local troops and to meet the demands of the local economy.

This is a likely scenario for the vast majority of the military issue mementos since most are fairly well made. So it is likely that provincial governments commissioned dies based on the design of the central mint's Memento dollar and produced them for soldiers and coinage demand. Since a well payed soldier is a loyal soldier, and a rich economy is a rich base for taxation.


-They were made by private mints to meet the demand for coinage in remote areas.

This is also a likely scenario for the cruder military issue ones. Since some extremely remote areas would not be rich enough to justify setting up a fully-fledged mint by the governments. Therefore private mints such as goldsmiths and smelters would make dollars that imitate Memento Dollars using hand carved dies to meet the demand for coinage.

-They were made by the few remaining warlords as a way to profit and ensure money does not flow out of their area of control.

This is a possible scenario, however since most of the warlords by 1927 were eliminated. There are fewer warlords that are capable of or want to make their own silver dollars in a large scale since they can just trade with the central government to get government issued Memento dollars that are high in silver content and have a guaranteed weight. Nevertheless it is still likely especially during times of crisis.

In general though, the so called "military issue" Memento Dollars are in most cases more likely to be provincial/private issued for a variety of tasks other than for paying the troops. In addition, most military issue has lower silver purity than the central mint ones and troops are unlikely to accept them as payment. Therefore it is more likely that they were only issued in remote areas as a temporary solution and are redeemable for official strike Memento Dollars once they are available.

The links does not work for me for some reason. But I can answer the first question.

Chinese Soviet Fatman and Memento Dollars are exceptionally scarce. However it is not impossible to distinguish them with one of the most reliable methods is the milling of the edge. As these Soviet Chinese made silver dollars are all unique in that the milling are all made through a rolling press after the coins are minted rather than through a mold during the minting process and therefore they have a unique milling on the edge.

As for the history, Chinese Soviets did not start to make Mementos and Fatmans in any significant scale until March 1932 when they captured some dies from Fujian province. The production number at their peak are around a couple thousand a day and the vast majority of them were fatman dollars with a small number of memento dollars issued. The mint was closed in November 1934 due to multiple factors such as the lack of silver and the Nationalist closing in. As a result few survived and are highly desirable although not a lot of effort is made to distinguish them from the normal military issued ones.

Here are a few more photos of other soviet era Chinese coins, including their edge (3rd side).




A 1934 Sichuan-Shanxi Soviet Silver Yuan




A 1933 Sichuan-Shanxi Soviet Silver 2 Jiao piece

Looking at the edge on these pieces, it seems the milling process for the soviets may have been slightly different depending on the location of where they were manufacturing their coins. Would anyone know if the milled edges on military dollars more similar to the pieces made in the Sichuan-Shanxi Soviet or perhaps more similar to the pieces made in the North Shensi Soviet?