By CoinWeek ….
On Sunday, January 5, bidding ends on GreatCollections.com for this China 2003 Gold Panda Frosted Bamboo 500 Yuan coin, graded MS-70 by PCGS. It is one of only two certified perfect by PCGS, and the only 2003 Gold Panda 500 yuan that PCGS has designated as being Frosted (NGC has also graded one example with that certification).
Some Gold Panda issues from the early 2000s come in two major varieties: Frosted and Mirrored. As might be expected, the Frosted Bamboo variety features a matte finish on a certain section of bamboo, and the Mirrored variety features a reflective, mirrored polish.
Housed in a more recent PCGS holder, the label gives the mint mark as “沈” in parentheses, which signifies that the coin was struck at the Shenyang Mint even though there is no mint mark on the Gold Panda itself. Besides Shenyang (沈阳, Shěnyáng), Chinese Gold Pandas are struck at the Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen Mints.
Knowledge about Panda coin mintages from these mints is notoriously hard to come by, and as such, American collectors, dealers, and third-party grading services do not always know how many were produced. This is exactly the case with the 2003 500 yuan. Nevertheless, if census reports are in any way a guide, PCGS has certified a total of 150 examples of the 2003 500 yuan Gold Panda (including both recognized varieties), while NGC reports a total of 410 grading events.
There are no auction records for any of the MS-70 Frosted specimens certified by either PCGS or NGC, though PCGS gives an estimated value of $9,000 USD for the grade. The highest price for a PCGS MS-69 example is $1,912, achieved in August 2016; the highest price for an NGC-certified MS-69 Frosted Bamboo coin is $1,852, garnered in April 2017.
At the time of writing, the highest bid on this MS-70 2003 500 yuan Frosted Gold Panda is $2,050.01 after 19 bids.
A search through the GreatCollections Auction Archives–with over 600,000 certified coins sold in the past seven years–will reveal prices for other grades of the type.
A (Brief) History of the Chinese Panda Coin
In 1982, the first issue of the Chinese Gold Panda bullion coin came in four denominations and weights: 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz and 1 oz – all struck in .999 fine gold.
In 1983, the first 1/20 oz gold coin was struck, as were the first Proof Silver Pandas (bullion Silver Pandas came in 1989). Besides the metal content and the cost, the other big difference between Gold and Silver Pandas is that Gold Pandas feature their panda designs on the reverse, while Silver Pandas place the panda on the obverse. The other side of each respective coin features a head-on depiction of the famous Temple of Heaven, a religious complex built almost 600 years ago under the Ming dynasty in the capital, Beijing.
1986 saw the release of the first Gold Panda Proof sets, which were produced through 1992. A circle P was added to the Proof Gold Panda reverse.
The design on the reverse of the Gold Panda changes every year, with the exception of 2001 and 2002 when the same reverse was used. Silver Proof and bullion coins had the same obverse design until 1993.
Bimetallic 1oz Gold Pandas were produced in 1993 and ’94. A variety of other weights, including one-kilogram monsters, have also been manufactured for the collector and investor markets. The face values of all denominations were increased in 2001, with the 100 yuan one-ounce coin becoming the 500 yuan.
The 500 yuan Gold Panda denomination weighs one troy ounce or 31.103 grams. It has a diameter of 32.05 millimeters and a thickness of 2.70 millimeters.
中国, 中國, 沈阳, 金熊貓, 大熊貓
