1920 China — Crossed Flags in Circle 10 Cash
A historically important 1920 Republic of China 10 Cash, featuring the iconic Crossed Flags in Circle design and the English legend “THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA.”
Graded MS 62 BN by NGC, this attractive Mint State example preserves an important symbol of China's dramatic transition from the imperial Qing Dynasty to the modern Republic.
The Historical Importance of the Crossed Flags
The crossed flags are far more than a decorative design. They represent the birth of the Republic of China and the revolutionary transformation of the Chinese state following the Xinhai Revolution of 1911.
The two flags traditionally represented on this coin type are the Five-Colored Flag, adopted as the early national flag of the Republic, and the Iron-Blood 18-Star Flag, associated with the revolutionary forces of the Wuchang Uprising. The Smithsonian's collection identifies the Five-Colored Flag as the national flag of the Republic from 1911 to 1928, while the other flag represents the Chinese Army of the revolutionary period.
The Five-Colored Flag symbolized the concept of a united Chinese nation composed of five major ethnic groups. Its colors represented the Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui, and Tibetan peoples, expressing the ideal of unity within the newly established Republic.
The 18-Star Flag has its own revolutionary significance. It was closely associated with the Wuchang Uprising of 1911, the event that helped ignite the Xinhai Revolution and ultimately brought about the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
Together, the crossed flags became an instantly recognizable emblem of the new Republican China. Their appearance on circulating coinage effectively placed the political message of the revolution into the hands of ordinary people throughout the country.
From Empire to Republic
For more than two thousand years, Chinese imperial coinage had carried the authority and symbolism of the emperor and the dynastic state. Following the 1911 Revolution, the new Republican government needed symbols that communicated an entirely different political order.
The crossed-flags motif served precisely this purpose.
Rather than the imperial dragon and dynastic inscriptions of Qing coinage, these Republican coins displayed the flags of the revolutionary movement and the new Republic, accompanied by the inscription 中華民國 — Republic of China.
The design therefore captures one of the most important political transitions in modern Chinese history: the replacement of imperial rule with republican government.
The Significance of the 1920 Issue
By 1920, the Republic was entering a complicated period of political fragmentation and provincial military rule. Nevertheless, the crossed-flags design remained an important visual representation of the Republican state and appeared on numerous Chinese copper issues of the period.
Related 10 Cash issues of this era are catalogued with the crossed-flags obverse, while the reverse commonly carries the denomination together with agricultural imagery such as wheat or grain.
The use of English on the reverse — “THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA” and “TEN CASH” — is also significant. It reflects China's increasing engagement with international commerce and the desire of the Republican era to present China as a modern nation-state participating in the international monetary system.
An Important Republican-Era Type
This coin is therefore much more than a copper 10 Cash denomination. The crossed flags preserve the visual memory of the revolution that ended China's imperial system, making the type particularly attractive to collectors interested in Chinese history, revolutionary coinage, and the early Republican period.
Coin Details
- Country: China
- Period: Republic of China
- Date: 1920
- Denomination: 10 Cash
- Design: Crossed Flags in Circle
- Reverse: “THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA” / “TEN CASH”
- Composition: Copper
- Grade: NGC MS 62 BN
- NGC Population in MS 62 BN: 50
- NGC Population Higher: 15
A Coin That Represents the Birth of Modern China
The crossed flags make this issue especially compelling. They commemorate, in symbolic form, the extraordinary moment when centuries of imperial rule gave way to the Republic of China.
For collectors of Chinese Republican coinage, the design is one of the most recognizable visual statements of the revolutionary era: two flags representing revolution, unity, and the creation of a new Chinese nation.
An attractive NGC-certified Mint State example of an historically significant Republican type.
