Canton Mint

Canton Mint
IndustryMinting
Founded1889
Defunct1949

The Canton Mint (Chinese: 廣東造幣廠 ;Cantonese Jyutping: gwong2 dung1 zou6 bai6 cong2) also romanised as Kwangtung Mint was a mint located in Guangdong (Canton), China, which produced coinage at the discretion of the Guangdong Provincial government. Opened in 1889 it was the first mint in China that used modern minting techniques and was at the time the largest mint in the world producing 2.7 million coins per day.[1]

History

Photo of mint staff circa 1900

In 1887 as China began to modernise its minting methods British mint Heaton and Sons (later known as the Birmingham Mint) won a contract to build and equip a new mint in Guangdong province (Canton).[2][3] Designed in England the new Canton Mint constructed in Chinese style was opened by Viceroy Zhang Zhidong on 25 May 1889 at a total cost of 1 million dollars.[4] Measuring 200 meters and 130 meters wide the Canton Mint was the largest mint in the world operating 90 minting presses at once, compared to the US mint's six.[citation needed]

In its opening year, the mint produced the first Chinese Silver Dragon coins, which were based on Japanese and Korean designs.[5]

The minted closed in 1931 and later briefly re-opened by the Kuomintang in 1949 before their retreat to Taiwan.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Edward Wyon". jerseycoins.com. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  2. ^ Barrie M., Ratcliffe (1986). Great Britain and Her World. Manchester University Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0719005817.
  3. ^ "Heaton & Sons Mint, Birmingham, England". Museums Victoria. Archived from the original on 30 November 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  4. ^ Eduard, Kann (1926). The Currencies of China. Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh. p. 417.
  5. ^ Starck, Jeff (19 October 2014). "China's Kwangtung Mint was once world's largest". Coin World. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  6. ^ S. Cuhaj, George (2010). 2011 Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000. Krause Publications. ISBN 9781440215148.