Question on 2000-2011 Silver Pandas

phnatacc

Just had a bunch of Panda's I had listed on eBay pulled because I described them as Proof strikes. I readily admit that the Panda's have always confused me when it came to business or proof strikes, save the early ones clearly marked with a P.

I would have originally listed all of these coins simply as Uncirculated except that this time when I went to look them up in Krause I noticed they were all described as Proof...

KM# 1466
Denomination 10 Yuan
Country China, People's Republic
Government Peoples Republic
Coinage Type Silver Bullion Coinage (Panda Series)
Composition Silver
Fineness 0.999
Weight 31.1035 g 0.999 oz ASW
Diameter 40 mm
Edge Type Slant reeded
Description Obverse Temple of Heaven
Description Reverse Panda eating bamboo in a frosted circle
Notes Prev. Y#1244.

Mintages & Price Information
Coin Mintage FINE VF XF UNC BU Proof
2003 Proof - - - - - - 90.00

So are these now considered Proofs or did the editing team at Krause make a mistake?

theboz11

1999 was the last China 10yuan made as a Proof, I believe.

Dennis88

Those are MS pieces...Proofs were packaged in special cases and some of the early ones had the "P" on them, like you said.

It seems that the grading services often don't have a clue either...I've seen certain issues in both MS and PR holders, both PCGS and NGC. I think they are still trying to figure it out, as is Krause.

Strange tough that eBay pulled your auctions...they bug you to list "item specifics" which in this case would have identified the coin as a Proof striking, as they copy the information directly from Krause. Just another reason to avoid that item specifics thing alltogether.

Dennis

OnlyBuffalos

The one ounce silver (10 Yuan) China Panda Proofs and Business Strikes are relatively easy to tell apart.

The proofs were struck from 1983 through 1999 with the exception of years 1986 and 1988.

The first business strikes were made in 1989 and every year thereafter.

For the years 1989 through 1994 when both proofs and business strikes were made, the proofs have the letter P enclosed in a circle on the coin.

For the years 1995 and 1996, the proofs and business strikes have different designs.

For 1997, 1998 and 1999, all the proofs are colorized; none of the business strikes.

trozau

Since the first year issue of the Pandas, they have been designated as PL (Proof-Like) due to the mirror background and frosted design finish.