An ultra‑rare experimental coin from the final days of imperial China has sold for $4.87 million. The Hsüan-t’ung silver specimen pattern “short-whiskered dragon” dollar year 3 dates back to 1911 and was made at the Tientsin Mint in China. Produced in the final year of the Qing Dynasty, the government was trying to create a modern, unified national currency system, and tasked Italian engraver Luigi Giorgi with modernising Chinese coinage. Only one design was chosen for circulation, so the others became ultra‑rare patterns, and only three of the eight documented surviving coins are privately owned. The lot was sold by ... (full story)