CHINA. Zhōnghuá Sūwéi'āi Gònghéguó (Szechuan-Shensi Soviet), 1931-1937. Yuán – Dollar 1934 (Silver, 39 mm, 24.25 g, 12 h), variety with small solid stars and with sickle blade blending into hammer. T'ungchiang. 來起合聯級階産無界世全 / 年四三九一 ('Proletariats of the world, unite! / Year 1934' in Chinese) Hammer and sickle above glove. Rev. 國和共埃維蘇華中 / ✱造厰幣造省陝川✱ ('Chinese Soviet Republic / Made in the Szechuan-Shensi Provincial Mint' in Chinese) around 壹 / 圓 ('1 Yuan' in Chinese). Kann 808G. L&M 891. Yeoman 513.2. Extremely rare and nicely toned. Traces of mounting, light scratches and edge filling, otherwise, very fine.


The Szechuan-Shensi Soviet was a Communist-controlled enclave established in 1933 in the border region between Sichuan and Shaanxi during the turbulent years of the Chinese Civil War. Under the leadership of the Red Fourth Front Army, it developed into one of the largest and most important Soviet base areas outside Jiangxi, serving both as a military stronghold and as an experiment in revolutionary administration.

Beginning in the late 1920s, the Communist armies established their own initially mobile banking institutions, which in turn issued paper currency, copper coinage, and smaller quantities of silver money. The highly sought-after 1934 dollar, bearing a clear communist and internationalist message, is known in more than twenty different varieties.