Peter Anthony: The 1991 3 Yuan 1 gm. gold 10th Anniversary Panda is the smallest coin in the Panda series, even smaller than the diminutive 2007 25th Anniversary gold Pandas. The design is the work of Shanghai Mint artist Sun Qi Ling.
Although the mintage of these coins exceeded 100,000 not many are left today for collectors. Most found their way into jewelry or other promotional items. Few were handled carefully. The average condition of the vast majority is actually circulated, but these ex-jewelry survivors are unlikely to ever get graded. Among the coins submitted to NGC for grading the average grade is MS68. MS68 is a very nice grade for the 1991 3 Yuan 1 gm. gold and an MS69 example is a superior find.