Does anyone have any idea of the actual mintages on the 1/2 oz silver pandas. There is a very large discrepancy between the mintage numbers listed in Mr gs book and Peter Anthonys . Examples ; 1993 mr g 128888 , PA 28888 , 1994 mr g 158888 , PA 28888 . And the 1998 mr g 200000 , PA 200000 , this seems way high on both considering how few of these turn up for sale,. Please let me know if anyone has any more current info on this.
Thanks JC888... it looks like they are just using a mix between PA and Mr G , are there any other sources on mintage ? I am surprised how big the difference is on the 93 and 94 between the two books. And again on the 98 it is hard to believe the mintage is so high considering availability. Maybe we will never know how many they minted and we certainly wont know how many were melted down.
The planned mintage for 98 is high but I'd wager the actual mintage is very low because the year 1997 was the Asian Financial Crisis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Asian_financial_crisis
Actual and reported mintages are clearly two different things with these coins. The numbers in the first edition of the Gold and Silver Panda Collectors Buyer's Guide are what the China Mint reported. The second edition will have population estimates for this series (and others). Best wishes, Peter Anthony China Pricepedia www.pandacollector.com
It will be announced when I have a definite date. Best wishes, Peter Anthony China Pricepedia www.pandacollector.com