The Panda Lunar Medal Series and its history

[Guest]

INTRODUCING SHENYANG MINT AND THE PANDA LUNAR SERIES

Shenyang Mint Ltd is the official mint in China appointed to produce China circulating coins, commemorative Gold and silver coins, medals and other precious metal products. Shenyang Mints is one of the oldest official mint of China established since 1896.

It has more than one century of history with advance coin minting technology and experiences which is recognised by the world-wide coin minting industry.

Shenyang Mint has a winning team of staff with immense technical know-how and world-class design ability.

It is a producer of gold and silver coins and other precious metal products and has has government accredited quality control centre and appointed coins research and development centre of china.

In additional, it is recognised as the research and training ground for coin research philosophy doctorate centre by Lioning province since 2007.

Shenyang mint has achieved countless awards and other achievements both in China and internationally. It is renowned for its coin design, coin technology research, development and application and breakthrough anti-coin counterfeit technology.

World coins awards to Shenyang Mint include:

·         “壬戌（狗）年银质纪念币”Chinese Lunar dog 2006 silver coin awards silver prize in World coin competition organizes by America World coin news magazine and Chronos Publishing House of America;

·         “麦积山”5_OZ金币” 5 oz Gold mount Ma Zi award as best world gold coin;

·         “马可．波罗纪念银币”Marco Polo silver coins award as International best hostrorical coin theme.

·         “千年纪念”金币”、“元亨利贞方孔金章”、“纪念郑和下西洋600年银章”are recorded in shanghai World Guinness record as the biggest gold coin, gold medal and silver medal respectively.

 

LUNAR PANDA SERIES

2015 Shenyang Mints has jointly worked with private sponsors to commission a new “Panda Lunar” medal series. The first panda lunar year is “Yi Wei Year of the Goat 乙未羊年三羊开泰”

 

Why did the medal sponsors commence the first lunar year of the Panda Lunar from “GOAT” NOT another lunar year?

Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig即子（鼠）、丑（牛）、寅（虎）、卯（兔)、辰（龙）、巳（蛇）、午（马）、未（羊）、申（猴）、酉（鸡）、戌（狗）、亥（猪）are the 12 Chinese Lunar ZODIAC sequence. Initially, the intention to commence the first medal from horse due to the limitation of time in designing and planning which will affect the quality of the medal and horse is ranked as number 7 of 12 Lunar which 7 in mandarin means “fail” and “going”in Chinese culture so all decide to delay and wait for one year and commence the first medal on Goat year.

In additional of the above reason, Goat is ranked number “8”of the 12 lunar which means lucky and prosperous.  The kindness story of Goat is another reason for us to pick the goat as first year of the Lunar for this series.

Grain is not in existence on the earth during the ancient prehistoric times. A Kind hearted Goat from heaven visit the earth and discover the starving human with pale face and thin body. He secretly return to the heaven and steal the grain to plant it on earth. The master of heaven Jade emperor is very angry and executed the goat and eaten his meat. The next years, the goat execution place has grown grass and little lamb. Jade emperor decides to select 12 animals as human 12 lunar zodiac as assigned as god. Human unanimously elected Goat as one of the Lunar Zodiac due to his kindness to them. Jade emperor still anger on the grain stolen case but no choice to fulfil the human demand.

Daddy, mommy and kid are selected instead of one goat in the medal is to show the joyful of happy family too.

Why panda?

Panda is the endanger animal which is the national treasure of China and one of the oldest animal in biological science. China government recognizes Panda as a symbol of friendship with foreign countries in diplomatic occasions. Thus, panda is chosen.

 

Why Great wall of China?

The Great Wall of China is one of the ten wonders of the world. Great Wall start building from Spring and Autumn war Dynasty till Ming Dynasty which across two thousand years with total length of 21,196.18 km. World Heritage Committee comments that “The Great Wall of China” as the world's longest military installations with high value in the arts and culture and importance in the history and strategy.

 

LUNAR GOAT PANDA

Panda Goat is the first medal of the series which issued in 2015 with 3 versions 2 oz .999 silver, 2 oz .999 silver antique and 50 gram .999 gold with mintage of 299, 99 and 19 respectively.

 

 

 

Panda Lunar Goat - Antique Finish Mintage 99

 

LUNAR MONKEY PANDA

The golden snub-nosed monkey an endanger animal is selected for this LUNAR PANDA SERIES : Monkey 金丝猴

 

Golden snub-nosed monkey is an Old World monkey in the Colobinae subfamily. It is endemic to a small area in temperate, mountainous forests of central and Southwest China at elevations of 1,500-3,400 m above sea level. The Chinese name is Sichuan golden hair monkey (川金丝猴). Snow occurs frequently within its range and it can withstand colder average temperatures than any other non-human primates.

There are only 4 species of Golden Monkey that exist in the world, including Golden Golden Monkey, Yunnan Golden Monkey, Guizhou Golden Monkey and Tonkin Golden Monkey. The first three species inhabit China so we can say Golden monkey is peculiar to China and under the State's first-class protection. Besides China, there are some specimens of golden monkeys in the museums of few countries such as UK and France in the world. Golden Monkey, which is as precious as the Giant Panda in China, is also China's "national treasure". The Golden Monkey, having bright-colored fur, special appearance, graceful movement and gentle nature, is deeply loved by people.

The Golden Monkey's body length is about 70 cm (2.3 ft) and the length of its tail is the same as that of its body or even longer. This monkey has flat nose with nostrils facing forward, full lips and no cheek pouch. The beautiful Golden monkey has cyan and polish long fur on its back and blackish-grey fur on shoulders, upper arms, back, crown and tail. The side of the crown, nape, abdomen, inner arms and thighs are covered with soft brown fur. The Golden monkey is named after the stump nose with forward-facing nostrils, and it is also called 'non nose bridged' because of its seriously degenerated nose.

The golden snub-nosed monkey is endangered due to habitat loss. This primate is found in a number of protected areas, including Baihe Nature Reserve, Foping National Nature Reserve, Shennongjia National Geopark and Wanglang National Nature Reserve.

The San Francisco Zoo kept this species during 1985, and the San Diego zoo kept the species before the 1980s. Outside China only Japan and South Korea keep the golden-snub nosed monkeys.

 

Here the message of the panda and Great wall :-

 

送马迎猴
古往今来
坐拥长城 
眼放世界

 

Parting with the Chinese Lunar horse year and welcoming the Chinese Lunar Monkey year (fire monkey)

Remember the past, value the present, building the future

Continue the virtual, determination and spiritual of Chinese culture and nationality like establishing the GREATWALL as one of the world wonder.

Establish the big picture and reputation of the country globally.

 

This series is published by the western well know panda coins and medals author Peter Anthony in his monthly subscription magazine call pricepedia.

It also attract the world mints news blog attention as following:-

 

http://world.mintnewsblog.com/2016/01/2016-panda-themed-silver-issues/

 

MINTAGE SUMMARY

	Lunar	Silver 2oz Proof	Silver 2oz Antique	Gold 50g
2015	Sheep	299	99	19
2016	Monkey	499	99
2017	Rooster	499
2018	Dog
2019	Pig
2020	Mouse/Rat
2021	Ox
2022	Tiger
2023	Rabbit
2024	Dragon
2025	Snake
2026	Horse

 

[MaxShiraz]

Yes this is a very exciting series. While there are numerous lunar series out here from China, Canada and Perth, this I think will be the most collectable due to there super low  mintage and beautiful designs. Get 'em while you can!

[sovereignsteve]

31 minutes ago, MaxShiraz said:

Yes this is a very exciting series. While there are numerous lunar series out here from China, Canada and Perth, this I think will be the most collectable due to there super low  mintage and beautiful designs. Get 'em while you can!

Low mintage, yes, but beautiful designs...a matter of opinion that I don't share.

[Guest]

Steve you think that the Perth Mint Goat is more beautiful than this?

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[Guest]

Added a slightly different version to my blog

https://numistacker.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/panda-lunar-medal-series/

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[DavePanda]

Really great write up, enjoyed reading all the article.

I am a big fan of this series

[sovereignsteve]

16 hours ago, Numistacker said:

Steve you think that the Perth Mint Goat is more beautiful than this?

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Apples and oranges NM.

The Perth mint stuff is what it is, mainly low cost bullion and slightly dearer proofs, on issue. These medals are aimed at the select collector with the low mintages.

True the PM goat isn't one of their best designs but they've gone down the route of consistency with generally true-life designs.

I'm not sure what these medals are supposed to be.

The goats are a cross between "cutesy" and rocking horses. The panda side is actually quite good and pretty life-like.

However, the 2016 designs are a joke IMO. The monkeys I think are supposed to be true to life but they're not a very good likeness and look pissed.

The panda side is awful with the panda looking like a stuffed teddy bear with the wall scene looking very childish.

So no, I guess I'm not a fan.

[Guest]

Steve you think that the Perth Mint Goat is more beautiful than this?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Apples and oranges NM.

The Perth mint stuff is what it is, mainly low cost bullion and slightly dearer proofs, on issue. These medals are aimed at the select collector with the low mintages.

True the PM goat isn't one of their best designs but they've gone down the route of consistency with generally true-life designs.

I'm not sure what these medals are supposed to be.

The goats are a cross between "cutesy" and rocking horses. The panda side is actually quite good and pretty life-like.

However, the 2016 designs are a joke IMO. The monkeys I think are supposed to be true to life but they're not a very good likeness and look pissed.

The panda side is awful with the panda looking like a stuffed teddy bear with the wall scene looking very childish.

So no, I guess I'm not a fan.

Pissed is true to life with many monkeys. Met one in Cambodia that was not only pissed it stole my water bottle.

I think you have a downer on non-fiat coins generally as these medals are very good examples and beautifully minted. I expect the series will get even better with the rooster. Not for everyone but with a mintage of 499 it doesn't need to appeal to the whole world.

2008 2oz bullion mouse with mintage of 17,500 £300 2016 proof monkey at release £130 with 499 minted. Value?

[Cornishfarmer]

Personally I think the monkey, rat and rabbit won't look so good as other years because of their nature  of hard to represent animals. The  goats look to have attitude so I think the cow/ox/bull, tiger and dragon will be easier subjects to make great designs.     Like the panda side, also like  antique looking coins but can't bring myself to collect another series

[sovereignsteve]

1 hour ago, Numistacker said:

Pissed is true to life with many monkeys. Met one in Cambodia that was not only pissed it stole my water bottle.

I think you have a downer on non-fiat coins generally as these medals are very good examples and beautifully minted. I expect the series will get even better with the rooster. Not for everyone but with a mintage of 499 it doesn't need to appeal to the whole world.

2008 2oz bullion mouse with mintage of 17,500 £300 2016 proof monkey at release £130 with 499 minted. Value?

Cambodian monkey pissed as in too much alcohol or the American version of pissed off? I meant the former.

"Downer" in general, no not at all. I let everything speak to me on it's merits. You could class most coins issued these days as non-fiat even though they have a value stamped on them. The fiat value is irrevevant to me, I still collect what I like.

I don't disagree they are well minted, I just don't like the designs and disagree they are beautiful.

The value comparison is irrelevant, again you're not comparing like with like.

I agree, I can't fathom out why the 2 oz mouse is so expensive, but it's a mature market for this coin and if they sell for this then it must be the right price.

If you like these medals, then £130 is probably good value but it remains to be seen whether they will stand the test of time. I hope they increase in value and you make lots of money if you do decide to sell some. If I like any of the future issues, I may well buy some.

 

[Guest]

Lol )) my monkey may have been pissed in both ways maybe that's why it needed extra hydration from my water bottle.

The Rooster design is meant to be better than the goat and monkey so we will see soon.

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[sovereignsteve]

re: non-fiat and medals. I was seriously buying one/some/all of those tri-metal medals you were offering as I quite liked them but couldn't decide quickly enough and they went!

[Guest]

re: non-fiat and medals. I was seriously buying one/some/all of those tri-metal medals you were offering as I quite liked them but couldn't decide quickly enough and they went!

They are interesting and unique. Andy Lee in Singapore has some available he held back from the pre order so you could get them at Chinesemedals.com for a little more than the pre order price.

Mine are being assessed for duty by the boys at Parcelforce ))

[sovereignsteve]

1 hour ago, Numistacker said:

They are interesting and unique. Andy Lee in Singapore has some available he held back from the pre order so you could get them at Chinesemedals.com for a little more than the pre order price.

Mine are being assessed for duty by the boys at Parcelforce ))

Do such parcels from here always get pulled up by customs, if I bought from Chinesemedals.com, could I expect to have to pay up?

[Guest]

All previous parcels have gone straight through but this one had 11 small medals a big brass one and some notes too.. I am not surprised

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[sovereignsteve]

Thanks. If you're wanting this tread to be a kinda reference for these medals, feel free to request a mod to remove all my extraneous chat and banter

[motorbikez]

5 hours ago, Numistacker said:

Not for everyone but with a mintage of 499 it doesn't need to appeal to the whole world.

2008 2oz bullion mouse with mintage of 17,500 £300 2016 proof monkey at release £130 with 499 minted. Value?

Lunar S1   2oz Bu mintage is 7,221 & currently worth around £125 give or take £10

Lunar S2   2oz Bu mintage is 9,126 & currently worth around £260 give or take £10

You are right they don't need to appeal to everyone, the best reason as usual with any collectable coin is buy it if you like it. Re value amongst the lunar S1 2oz coins mouse & ox are very good value at current prices.

[Guest]

The nice thing about them is they are official mint pandas and there are huge numbers of panda collectors

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