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THE 1902 TIENTSIN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT MEDAL
This Chinese medal caught my eye in a Stack's Bowers blog article by Chris Chatigny published April 20, 2016. It's was sold in
the firm's recent Hong Kong sale. -Editor
Continuing our recap of the Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio April Hong Kong Showcase Auction we feature today a gold medal from a pivotal moment in Chinese history. This gold medal brought amazing results, realizing $47,800 and surpassing the high estimate. The Boxers seized the city of Tientsin in June 1900, and the Eight Nation Alliance (Germany, United States of America, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Russia and Austria-Hungary) recaptured the city on July 14th. Two weeks later the Alliance formed a provisional government on July 30th. For nearly two years the provisional government exerted military control over the city of Tientsin and the surrounding area. Toward the end of the spring of 1902, Governor Yuan Shih-kai of Chihli began talks to return control of the city and its environs to the Qing government. Tientsin Tutung Yamen ceased to be on August 15th, but during its tenure it produced gold and silver medals, with the gold examples only presented to the foreign dignitaries of the provisional government. This medal is of great historical importance, clearly representing an international effort to stabilize the rapidly deteriorating control of the Qing dynasty. Only a small number of these gold medals are extant today, with most other examples impaired in some capacity. The piece presented here is absolutely stunning, with beautiful luster, pristine enamel on the nation's flags and choice honeycomb gold coloration. It is truly a world class example by any measure, and worthy of inclusion in the most advanced collection. The obverse design features an impressive vexillogic display (left to right, Germany, the United States of America, France, Great Britain, the Kingdom of Italy, Japan and Russia). Just below the flags appears a banner stating: “PAX LABOR.” The outer French inscription states “Provisional Government of the District of Tientsin,” with the dates of 1900-1902. The reverse displays a central two line Chinese inscription within a laurel and oak wreath. To read the complete article, see:
The colored enameling is well done and really stands out. When enameling is added to a coin outside of the mint as a marketing gimmick
the results are sometimes spectacular but often just kitschy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in this case the enameling was done at the
mint and clearly as part of the artist's vision for the piece. I think it works very well. Flags are hard to depict on coins and
medals because the coloring forms such a key part of their identity. Nice piece, and congratulations to its new owner.
One mystery bothered me, though. If there was an Eight Nation Alliance, why are only seven nations represented on the medal? Where's Austria-Hungary? Was it an artistic decision (seven flags barely fit, and squeezing another in could harm the design). Or was there a political reason? I doubt this is a monumental mint screwup - so what happened? I asked my good friend Dr. Google and found an answer elsewhere on the internet. Here's an excerpt from an August 17, 2011 Chinese Medal Blog article. -Editor The organization established a three-person committee appointed by the Allied Force Command, consisting of representatives of Russia, the United Kingdom and Japan. All three representatives were referred to as Tutung. The appointment was followed by an addition of another four representatives from Germany, France, the United States and Italy. The commander of Austria-Hungary also requested to send a representative, however, the request was refused due to Austria-Hungary’s limited military power in China. Consequently, seven of the eight countries of the Eight-Nation Alliance each occupied a position in T’ienchin Tutung Yamen except for Austria-Hungary. To read the complete article, see:
E-Sylum regular Bruce W. Smith found and commented on the article in 2013, noting that "This medal is known in the west as
the Tientsin Provisional Government Medal." Here are a couple other references. -Editor
To read the Wikipedia article, see:
To read a Heritage lot description, see:
THE BOOK BAZARREWayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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