Peter Anthony: The 1985 1/20 oz. gold 5 Yuan Panda was designed by Mr. Wang Fu De of the Shenyang Mint. It features a playful young bruin swinging from a slender bamboo branch. This joyful image was fitting for the Panda program itself in 1985. Sales of the coins were strong and mintages hit new records. For buyers today this coin is hardly scarce but on the other hand only a small fraction of the original mintage exists in BU condition. That’s because vast quantities of these coins were shipped to jewelers to be placed in settings.

Given the large number of surviving examples of this coin there are relatively few graded examples. That is because its price is too low to profitably cover the grading fee. Of those that are graded the vast majority are MS-69 so this grade is not especially scarce. The 1985 1/20 oz. gold Panda is part of three NGC Registry sets: "Gold 1/20 Ounce Panda, 1983-Date, Mint State," "Gold 1/20 Ounce Panda, 1983-Date, Mint State (Incl. Varieties)" and "Gold 1/20 Ounce Panda, 1983-Date, Mint State and Proof."