A rare Chinese coin struck under Soviet rule highlights Stacks’ Bowers Galleries’ Aug. 7 Hong Kong auction. 

The “incredibly rare” Shensi-North Soviet silver dollar was issued in Year 5 (1935), after the retreat by the Red Army known as the Long March, which took place in phases from October 1934 to October 1935. 

The coin displays a large hammer and sickle Soviet symbol on the obverse, within a beaded border. 

Inside Coin World: Coin Values Spotlight debuts in weekly issues: A new regular column in the weekly editions of Coin World, “Coin Values Spotlight,” makes its debut in the Aug. 13 print issue.

According to Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Gold & Silver Coins, by Lin Gwo Ming and edited by Ma Tak Wo, Soviets in China in various places issued silver coins during the formative years of the Chinese Communist Party. The coins usually displayed propaganda slogans and were of low mintages. 

The coin exhibit is a “good strike (for type) with very crudely engraved peripheral legends,” according to the auction house.  

This type is unlisted in many major references and missing from many major collections, including those of Eduard Kann and Irving Goodman. 

The coin is graded Extremely Fine Details, Scratches, by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. It exhibits “light gray toning throughout, light scratches on reverse in right field, not distracting,” and is “a solid example of an incredibly elusive type.”

The coin previously realized $105,800, including 15 percent buyer’s fee, in the Dec. 3, 2010, auction of the Wa She Wong Collection, and now has an estimate of $70,000 to $90,000 U.S.

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