The Qing dynasty used a bimetalliccurrency system based on silver sycees and cast copper-alloycash coins and during the 19th century modern machine-struck coinage from the Western world inspired the local production of milled coinages by provincial governments. The first of these being provincial issues of the Guangxu Yuanbao which would later inspire the government of the Qing dynasty to standardise its currency nationwide due to the different weights and standards being used across China. During the later years of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the coinage system was scattered with central government-made coins, local coins and some foreign currencies circulating together in the private sector of China, resulting in a great deal of currency confusion, this has made both fiscal and financial management in China quite difficult. In an attempt to bring order to this chaos some people such as Chen Zhi started advocating for China to place its currency on the gold standard. The reformer Liang Qichao campaigned for the government of the Qing dynasty to emulate the Western world and Japan by embracing the gold standard, unify refractory the currencies of China, and issue government-backed banknotes with a ⅓ metallic reserve. In the year Guangxu 29 the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing had authorised a small number of gold 1 Kuping tael Guangxu Yuanbao pattern coins with the English inscription "29TH YEAR OF KUANG HSÜ - HU POO", the dies for these coins were probably produced at the Japan Mint in Osaka, Japan. In the year Guangxu 30 the Ministry of Revenue created a concrete implementation for the manufacture of gold coins, while in Guangxu 31 the government of the Qing dynasty reformed the currency system to allow for gold coins, these would be cast by the Tianjin General Mint operated by the Ministry of Revenue with the inscription Da-Qing Jinbi, These coins bore a similar inscription to the copper-alloy Da-Qing Tongbi and the silver Da-Qing Yinbi, which were both introduced to standardise the national coinages in their respective metals. Only a small number of trial coins with this inscription were ever cast that were not meant for general circulation as the gold reserves of the Qing dynasty proved insufficient. These coins weighed 1 Kuping Tael and were cast in the years Guangxu 32 and Guangxu 33 and featured a design of a Chinese dragon on one side and the inscription on the other with the year of casting shown in Chinese cyclical years. Because of the scarce production of these coins, Da-Qing Jinbi coins have been sold at auctions at high prices, during the 2010s a 1907 Da-Qing Jinbi was estimated to be worth between $80,000 and $100,000. In 2006 a Da-Qing Jinbi coin was sold for RMB 2,090,000, in 2007 a 1907 Da-Qing Jinbi was sold for RMB 1,904,000 and another for RMB 1,064,000, in the year 2008 a 1906 Da-Qing Jinbi coin was sold for RMB 1,792,000, in 2013 a 1906 Da-Qing Jinbi coin was sold for RMB 1,150,000, and in 2014 a 1906 Da-Qing Jinbi was sold for RMB 897,000 at an auction in Beijing.
Design
The obverse of the Da-Qing Jinbi coins featured the Traditional Chinese characters "大清金幣" which could be translated as "Gold currency of the Great Qing" in its centre, on the top of the coin was the date of manufacture using both the Chinese calendar date and the reign era of the Guangxu Emperor, 1906 coins had the text "造年午丙緒光" written from right to left, while 1907 coins featured the text "造年未丁緒光". At the bottom of the coin was the text "兩一平庫" written from right to left indicating that the weight of the coin was 1 Kuping Tael of gold. The reverse of these coins depicted a large Chinese dragon chasing the wish-granting pearl surrounded by auspicious clouds.
