People's Republic of China Commemoratives Complete Set, Specimen (1985-2005)

Although more typical of paper currency issues, in 1985, The People’s Bank of China added the characters “样币” (sample or specimen coin) to some commemorative circulating issues, beginning with the one Yuan “Tibet Autonomous Zone” coin. These were generally intended, at the outset, to be given to certain VIPs and bank branches. Not every circulating commemorative coin was issued as a specimen, but many more followed. All are base metal coins, consisting of copper nickel or copper brass. Bi-metallic coins were also issued, notably the 1997 Return of Hong Kong 10 Yuan coins. Although strike quality improved over the years, early issues resemble business strikes save for the additional characters. In 1991, beginning with 70th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party issue, a limited number of proof specimen commemoratives were struck, however, not every specimen thereafter necessarily had a proof issue. Chinese commemorative specimens are a fun and very popular subset to collect, and due to the fact that these were generally produced in numbers greater than proof commemoratives, they remain relatively affordable to seek out.