Chinese Gold Panda

Chinese Gold Panda is an official gold bullion coin of the People's Republic of China. The coin was first minted in 1982 and there was a new issue every year since.

Gold Panda 1985 Reverse



Gold Panda 1998 Obverse

The coin has a gold composition of 0.999 and was originally minted in four usual for bullion coins sizes, namely 1, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/10 troy ounces of pure gold; you can see specifications of these coins in the table below. Yet, there were other couple of odd panda coins issued. For example a 3-Yuan gold coin minted in 1991, which was only 1/30 oz. of pure gold and weighed 1 gram. And on the side of the scales, we have an enormous 10,000-Yuan coin minted in several years, but largest in 1991. That one was issued to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Panda gold coins and it was weighing 10 pounds (or almost 5 kg.), having 156 troy ounces of fine gold.

Chinese Gold Panda specifications are as follows:

Chinese Gold Panda coins were one of the most successfully sold gold bullion coins in 1980s, despite the fact that Chinese Mints charged higher premium comparing to other gold bullion coins. The higher premium surprisingly hadn't slowed down the sales of the Gold Pandas and the reason for this was most likely the coin designs. A panda of course is nice and cute animal on its own, but what really made the trick is having different designs every year, such attracting more and more collectors who're buying coins not only for the gold content, but also for their numismatic values. Chinese Gold Panda coins were so popular in fact that in late 1980s some early Gold Pandas were sold for as much as $3,000. It was in fact a start of a new concept in numismatic – collectible bullion coins.

The designs of the Gold Pandas was changing but only for reverses, showing all different Pandas doing different activities or just being cute. The obverse on the other hand was the same for all years (except for a little change in 1992) and is showing the Temple of Heaven, located in Beijing.

The Panda-mania started in the late 1980s didn't last too long as a demand for Chinese Gold Panda was soon satisfied and fulfilled with a great amount of Gold Pandas on the coin market, including souvenir sets in lacquered boxes with silk lining and both proof and brilliant uncirculated finishes. The Chinese Gold Panda is still one of the most popular gold bullion on the market, but it's much more available these days.

You can see current listings for Chinese Gold Panda coins below: