On December 14, the People's Bank of China issued an announcement that it will issue 2024 Chinese New Year commemorative coins and commemorative banknotes from December 15, 2023, including 1 gold commemorative coin, 1 silver commemorative coin, 1 two-color copper alloy commemorative coin, and 1 commemorative banknote, all of which are legal tender of the People's Republic of China. It is worth mentioning that this 8-gram silver coin issued this time is the first diamond-shaped commemorative coin issued by China.
According to the announcement, the obverse design of this set of gold and silver commemorative coins is a combination of traditional Chinese auspicious ornaments, and the name of the country and the year name are published. It is understood that since the issuance of the Chinese New Year blessing character gold and silver coins for ten years, this is the first time that the national emblem pattern on the front has been changed to an auspicious ornament.
The 1 gram round gold commemorative coin is a general coin, containing 1 gram of pure gold, with a diameter of 10 mm, a denomination of 10 yuan, and a fineness of 999%, with a maximum circulation of 100,000 pieces. The back pattern is a combination of the word "Fu" and the dragon shape, and the denomination is published.
The 8-gram diamond-shaped silver commemorative coin is a general coin, containing 8 grams of sterling silver, with a side length of 23 mm, a denomination of 3 yuan, and a fineness of 999%, with a maximum circulation of 1.5 million pieces. The back pattern is the word "Fu", lanterns, deer, butterflies and other decorative combination design, and the denomination is published.
This set of gold and silver commemorative coins is minted by Shenzhen National Treasure Mint and distributed by China Gold Coin Group.
It is understood that the central bank has issued a series of commemorative coins since 2015, because the coin surface patterns are the "Fu" characters written by major masters, so everyone is Xi to call them "Fu Zi coins".
From 2015 to 2020, each year was an 8-gram silver coin, and from 2021, the Fuzi coin ushered in its first specification change, adding a 1-gram gold coin to the 8-gram silver coin. The 2022 and 2023 Fu Zi coins still maintain the specifications of 1 gram gold coin + 8 gram silver coin. In 2024, there will be another major change in the shape of the Fu Zi coin, and the original 8-gram round silver coin will be changed to an 8-gram diamond-shaped silver coin. According to the announcement of the solicitation of design drawings for the 2025 Chinese New Year gold and silver commemorative coins previously released by the China Gold Coin Network, the future issuance of Fuzi gold and silver coins will also continue the shape of diamond-shaped silver coins.
Text: Beijing Youth Daily reporter Cheng Jie.
Edited by Field.