Kiau Chau - 5 Cents 1909 MS64

Take your pick, the former German trading enclave, at the port of Tsingtao (hence the beer) goes by many spellings. It used to be listed under China in KM, it can be found under a German Colonies listing or, as now, has it's own listing in KM.
Following the murder of two missionaries in Shantung in 1897, Germany occupied Kiaochow Bay and then obtained a a 99 year lease on 177 sq. miles of land on the Shantung Peninsula. As part of the first action by the Japanese in WWI they occupied the port in Aug 1914 until 1922. It was re-occupied by Japan in 1938.
These scarce coins are usually found no better than extra-fine to AU and are one-year types essential to a German colonies' collection.
These were struck under Wilhelm II. Here's a little more info on these:
The coinage of Kiaochou is restricted to two pieces thereby making it one of the least prolific fields from which numismatists may collect. Copper nickel coins of twenty-five percent nickel and seventy-five percent copper alloy were struck at the Berlin mint in Germany under the direction of Kaiser Wilhelm's mintmasters. These coins of five and ten cents denomination are all dated 1909 and bear on their obverse a German spread eagle with the inscription "Deutsch Kiautschou Gebiet" (German Kiaochou Territory) above and the date "1909" below. The coins' value appears to the left and right of the eagle. The reverse of these coins contain the Chinese inscription "Ta Der Guo Bao" (Germany's currency) within an inner circle, and "Kiautschou, Ching Tao" (Kiaochou, Tsingtao) which appears in the border. The diameter of the five cent piece is 19mm, while that of the ten cent coin is 22mm. Mintage was restricted to 610,000 five cent and 670,000 ten cent pieces. The value of these coins was calculated on the basis of 100 cents being equal to one Mexican silver dollar. The Germans made these coins the sole legal tender coinage in the colony, forcing the Chinese to use them to the exclusion of Chinese coins circulating elsewhere.
In addition to the 5 & 10 Cent coins numerous notes and notgeld were issued. A 20 Pfennig brass "kantine" token was also issued by the Naval Artillery Detachments in Tsingtao during the early 1900's. These were used only at the base canteen. Contact me if you need more information on the fiat paper money - we generally don't do paper at the Moneta Gallery.

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For the BEST article on Kiau Chau download this illustrated article:
German Colony of Kiaochou China - Sandrock: [ link ]