Panda, 1 oz (1982)

The bullion Panda coin without a stated face value in gold, 1 oz, belongs to the 1982 Chinese Panda issue. No face value is stated on the coin; its weight is 1 oz and its diameter is 32 mm. The actual mintage according to the Bank of China is 13 532. The whole mintage of this denomination contains about 420.5 kg of pure metal, and this figure reflects the coins actually struck rather than a planned limit. The coin contains about 31.07 g of pure metal at 999 fineness, i.e. 1 troy ounce. The 1982 coin is the only one in the series without a stated face value: its worth is determined by the weight of the metal. The share of this coin in the maximum mintage of bullion coins of the same metal in the issue is about 9 %. Compared with the lightest gold coin of the issue (1/20 oz, 1.555 g) this coin is 20 times heavier, and compared with the one-ounce gold coin it makes up 100 % of its mass. A diameter of 32 mm at this mass gives a thickness and weight against which the coin can be checked with the specification table of the 1982 issue: any deviation from the stated mass and size is a reason to doubt the authenticity of the piece. In the structure of the issue this is the one-ounce gold coin — the base denomination of the series, used both as an investment and as a gift; it is the coin by which issues of different years are compared. The denominations of the issue differ both in the price of the metal and in their purpose: with the large pieces the buyer pays for the metal and its rarity, with the small ones for the very possession of a year of the series. The difference in diameter within one issue is not accidental: with the same design, size helps to tell the coins apart at a touch, by the edge and by weight. The coin is a bullion piece: it is struck from high-fineness metal and sold at a price close to the value of the metal, with a small premium. That is why bullion pandas come without presentation packaging or a certificate — they are bought not as a souvenir but as a way of holding savings in precious metal.

The 1982 design is the first in the series: a single panda sits hugging a leafy bamboo shoot on a smooth field without landscape; characters and the fineness mark “99.9%” are beside it. It is the only issue with no face value stated on the coin: the worth was determined by the weight of gold. The design is shared by all four gold coins of the issue; there is no 1/20-ounce coin and no silver bullion coin this year. The sources name the subject briefly — “Giant Panda” (大熊猫).

The giant panda is not merely a rare animal but a national symbol of China and one of the most recognisable images in the world. Its depiction on the coins of the Chinese Panda series has become a genre of its own: the artists of the Chinese mint look for a new angle, a new pose and a new subject every year, so even a small design reads as a miniature.

Bamboo forms the basis of the giant panda’s diet: shoots, stems and leaves provide up to ninety-nine per cent of its food. The animal feeds sitting down, freeing its front paws, and spends up to twelve hours a day eating, consuming thirty to forty kilograms. To grip a slippery stem the panda has a “false thumb” — an enlarged wrist bone that works as a sixth digit.

The giant panda lives only in the mountain forests of central China — in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, at elevations from 1200 to 3400 metres. A thick double coat protects it from cold and damp, and the contrasting black-and-white pattern, according to one hypothesis, helps the animals recognise one another and blend into the dappled light of bamboo thickets and into snow.

About 1800–1900 giant pandas remain in the wild, and several hundred more live in zoos and breeding centres. In 2016 the International Union for Conservation of Nature moved the species from “endangered” to “vulnerable”, and in 2021 China created the first Giant Panda National Park, covering more than 27,000 square kilometres.

Since 1961 the image of the giant panda has served as the emblem of the World Wide Fund for Nature, and the loan of animals to zoos in other countries became a special form of “panda diplomacy”. Pandas breed slowly: a female gives birth once every two or three years, usually to a single cub weighing about a hundred grams, and stays with it for up to one and a half to two years.

Pandas climb trees well and swim well, and in hot weather they like to rest in the shade or in water. A tree is both a refuge and a lookout: leaving the cub on the branches, the mother goes off to feed, and in case of danger the little one climbs higher. Adults live alone, meeting only briefly, and mark the borders of their home ranges by scent.

The 1982 bullion coins are four gold coins (1/10, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 ounce) with no stated face value. It is the first issue of the Chinese Panda series. The on-sale date is not named in the available sources, so only the year is given. The mintages are actual figures according to the Bank of China.

Obverse

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing, common to all coins of the issue, with the inscription “中华人民共和国” (People’s Republic of China) and the year 1982.

Reverse

A seated panda holds a leafy bamboo shoot in its front paws; characters and the fineness mark “99.9%” are beside it; no face value is stated on the coin (“大熊猫”)