Chinese Coins: Inventing and Discovering

It was a chance meeting that happened back in the 1970s. Into a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles’ South Bay area walked a gentleman from Japan. The restaurant was owned and run by a former US Navy pharmacist and his Japan-born wife. As the owner and the customer chatted, it turned out that both were interested in gold coins.

The Japanese visitor actually had more than a casual interest in this subject. He was Masamichi Oka, the most important coin dealer of his day in Asia. Mr. Oka was an engineer by training. After World War II ended he saw an opportunity to export rubber from Thailand to Singapore. He called his new company Taisei to reflect this. From this first successful venture he branched out into many other fields.

The Sixties and Seventies were a time in which Japan’s economy soared to become the second largest in the world. Mr. Oka’s ventures boomed too. A coin and stamp collector himself, he expanded Taisei into the coin business. He became an innovative and important coin dealer, as well as a numismatic author. Taisei was the first company in Japan to distribute world coins on a large scale. In pre-Internet days, it brought coins to the people through outlets in department stores as well as coin shops.

Mr. Oka evidently saw potential in the restaurant owner. He gave him his business card along with an invitation to contact Mr. Oka if he ever went into the coin business.

The restaurant owner’s name was Martin Weiss and he never forgot this conversation. In 1982, Mr. Weiss was intrigued by the new Chinese Panda coins. He decided to start a coin company to distribute Pandas. To do this, he first needed to buy the Panda coins. Mr. Weiss was not satisfied with the prices offered by the official US distributor, so he contacted Mr. Oka.

Mr. Oka’s company, Taisei, was the very first company to sign a contract with the China Mint to distribute Panda coins. Back in 1982, the China Mint had only just started to issue collector coins. Their first modern series, the Beijing Monuments, appeared in 1979. The Lunar coin series began in 1981. The modern Chinese numismatic market was young and growing. Mr. Oka wanted to show the China Mint that Taisei could move a large volume of coins. He offered Mr. Weiss a sweetheart deal of barely above his own cost – and Taisei would pay shipping.

With a solid source of supply, Mr. Weiss moved into high gear to promote Pandas. He renamed his company Panda America, became an official distributor for the China Mint and turned Panda America into the largest Panda coin seller in the world. It sold hundreds of thousands of coins through innovative advertising and distribution, including cable TV.

Mr. Weiss’ creativity extended far beyond just advertising and distribution. The China Mint adopted his suggestion to change the design of the Panda coins each year. The Unicorn series was his idea. So was the Ships of China. Perhaps his most important offspring was the Inventions and Discoveries of China (IDOC) series of coins that was issued from 1992-1996. Some of the rarest and most expensive modern Chinese coins are from the IDOC series. They deserve an award for most interesting packaging, as well.

In a new NGC video Mr. Weiss talks about the creation of the IDOC series of coins. It can be seen at: YouTube.

A version with Chinese subtitles may be seen at: YouKu.

Peter Anthony is an expert on Chinese modern coins with a particular focus on Panda coins. He is an analyst for the NGC Chinese Modern Coin Price Guide as well as a consultant on Chinese modern coins.