Fukien 20c - Northern Expedition

November 2024

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I post this coin here due to the importance of the 1927 Northern Expedition. The expedition consisted of the combined forces of the KMT and the Soviet Red Armies. It was a brief moment of a combined effort to rid northern China of the powerful War Lord forces dominating there. Before the expedition was over the KMT forces began purging the Communists. This caused a split that eventually progressed to Communist take-over the the Chinese mainland and the Nationalist/KMT population escaping to Formosa (Taiwan), the situation remains the same today.
The reverse of this coin is most interesting. It seems to illustrate various symbols of sectors of the Chinese population in alliance to defeat the War Lords. Shown are a abacus, carbine rife, a slate with the symbol for 'north or northern' (looks like a lap-top computer, the 'screen' shows the symbol) and a hammer & sickle. Like most early Chinese renditions of the hammer it appears to be more like an axe. Obviously it must have been struck, or in the works, before the split.
This coin is not in the Museum, it was sold at a Ponterio auction, Dec 2010, for $6000 +fees.