Topic: The Journey of the Chinese Classical Garden Series of Medals

[pandamonium]

Beautiful series.     When the Mint restruck them in brass a few years after they were released in silver/gold that angered many collectors and probably why we see the price drop today.    Fwang would know.....

[collectingcoins]

Anyone know if these were apart of the original variations?  Anyone have additional information on whether the series continues or is it ended?  My understanding is that some Chinese lady purchased the rights to the series?  She tried to continue beyond the initial series after the 20 oz version was complete, and it was met with lukewarm results?  And apparently a lot of collectors and die hard fans are upset about her going back in adding variations to the 1st in the series YuanYuan?  Anyway, I saw these recently, and I don’t remember seeing them before.  Thoughts?

[fwang2450]

Anyone know if these were apart of the original variations?  Anyone have additional information on whether the series continues or is it ended?  My understanding is that some Chinese lady purchased the rights to the series?  She tried to continue beyond the initial series after the 20 oz version was complete, and it was met with lukewarm results?  And apparently a lot of collectors and die hard fans are upset about her going back in adding variations to the 1st in the series YuanYuan?  Anyway, I saw these recently, and I don’t remember seeing them before.  Thoughts?

As far as I know, this series has ended. I have not heard of any Chinese lady purchasing rights to the series. Yes, many in the group were deeply upset about the issuing of the different formats of the original Yuyuan medal, which only had the silver version. I am one of them. For that reason, I am done with Shanghai Mint's current day issues.

The pictures in your post show the Mountain Resort medals, not Yuyuan.

[collectingcoins]

Thank you fwang. Sorry for not being clear about the Mountain Resort pieces. Although it is disappointing that they went back and restruck different types, the beauty of this series is still amazing. I’ve read through the thread to understand the complexity of the series and how difficult some of these were to mint - broken dies - the labor involved to produce these pieces is quite impressive. I saw this On ebay: Shanghai Mint ShuiHui Classical Garden. Is this not a continuation of the series or is it considered garden series 2 or is not related at all?

[fwang2450]

Thank you fwang. Sorry for not being clear about the Mountain Resort pieces. Although it is disappointing that they went back and restruck different types, the beauty of this series is still amazing. I’ve read through the thread to understand the complexity of the series and how difficult some of these were to mint - broken dies - the labor involved to produce these pieces is quite impressive. I saw this On ebay: Shanghai Mint ShuiHui Classical Garden. Is this not a continuation of the series or is it considered garden series 2 or is not related at all?

Long story short, the medal in the pictures was commissioned by the local government where the garden is, instead of being sponsored by the Classical Garden medals team. It was supposed to have been minted before the Classical Garden series, but then those who commissioned it agreed to postpone the release till the Classical Garden series was completed. So it is like an appendage, adopting the name of the Classical Garden series. It is sometimes called Classical Garden Series 2, but nobody takes that seriously, because it is the only medal in the series.

[collectingcoins]

Fascinating!  Thanks for explaining these details. I think my favorite of all is the mountain resort. Although the old summer palace is another of my favorites.  I’m going to learn more about these and do more research.  Thanks again.

[pandamonium]

I own none of this series as they are newer issue.    However the best are the gold version....stunning.     Have not seen them on ebay for a few years.....

[collectingcoins]

I was browsing earlier and found this 118g gold piece. Spectacular, but pricey.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F123807509030

[collectingcoins]

Just picked these up. Beautiful 😻  will these ever make a comeback?

[collectingcoins]

Hi everyone. It’s been a long time. Our world has become a bit more chaotic since I last checked-in. I thought forums were ‘dead’, since crypto has taken over the world. Happy to see that most are still going strong with their Chinese coins/medals - congratulations! Gold and silver seem to making a bit of a comeback. About time - inflation continues to sail higher.

Hopefully these modern medals and others like them, will have their day in the sun too. I’ve been told that these Garden pieces (and others like them) are becoming more scarce (?) and harder to source. However, it could simply mean that shipping from China has come to a stand still.

Wishing everyone happy holidays, CC