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China’s Mythical Unicorn Series—A Modern Favorite

We completed our highly successful Hong Kong auction just a few days ago, but this always anticipated biannual sale isn’t the only venue in which collectors may encounter dazzling offerings from China. Our upcoming May Collectors Choice Online Auction (CCO), an expansive and all-encompassing auction with over 3,100 lots, has just posted, and features further entrants from the eminently popular modern Chinese coinage program—the Unicorn series. This mythical series, though fairly short-lived (1994 to 1997), remains one of the more celebrated and sought-after series, along with the perennial Pandas and their fauna-centric Lunar issues.

Common design elements in the series included one side with a “western-style” unicorn, likely more familiar with some as the animal one associates with a unicorn, with the other side featuring the “eastern-style” unicorn, seemingly appearing more like an equestrian dragon. These enchanting offerings, displaying the perfection that modern minting techniques allow, are a sight to behold and complement any collection of modern strikings, be they related to China or, more broadly, the entire world. In the upcoming CCO sale, a pair of “western-style” unicorns highlight the 1995 specimen (lot 71713), a gold 100 Yuan graded NGC Proof-68 Ultra Cameo, while a pair of “eastern-style” unicorns are found on the 1997 example (lot 71714), a platinum 100 Yuan graded NGC Proof-69 Ultra Cameo. Look for these stunning modern offerings, along with many other appealing coins, tokens, and medals, in our May 2023 Collectors Choice Online Auction.

To view our upcoming auction schedule and future offerings, please visit StacksBowers.com where you may register and participate in this and other forthcoming sales.

We are always seeking coins, medals, and paper money for our future auctions, and are currently accepting submissions for our August 2023 Global Showcase auction and our fall Hong Kong auction. Additionally, we are accepting submissions for our Collectors Choice Online (CCO) auctions, the next of which (for which we are accepting consignments) will be in September 2023. If you would like to learn more about consigning, whether a singular item or an entire collection, please contact one of our consignment directors today and we will assist you in achieving the best possible return on your material.

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