Peter Anthony:The 1985 silver Panda is the third and final coin in the 27 gm silver proof Panda series. It has a face value of 10 Yuan and the silver is .900 pure. The mintage is 10,000 just as in 1983 and 1984. Like the 1984 the 1985 silver Panda was designed by Xie Lie, the first woman to create a Panda coin design. Also like the 1984 the 1985 proof coin includes and adult bear and cub. There is some humor to the 85’s design as it shows a small cub climbing on its parent’s back. It is certainly a very beautiful and charming design and remains popular among collectors. The one downside is that its simplicity has attracted counterfeiters. This is a coin that I especially recommend to buy graded and authenticated by a company like NGC.

The 1985 is almost as rare the 1983 and sells for nearly as much. It grades better than the earlier silver proofs. Roughly half the coins submitted to NGC earned a Proof-69 grade. The 1985 10 Yuan silver Panda is the first coin on two NGC Registry sets: The “Silver 10Y Panda, 1983-Date, One-Per-Date” and the “Silver 10Y Panda, 1983-1999, Proof.”