(sold for $64.0)

1911, China, Yunnan Province. Large Silver 50 Cents Coin.  Two Circles Variety!

State: China Mint Period: 1911-1915 Region: Yunnan Province Denomination: 50 Cents (½ Dragon Dollar) Reference:  KM#Y-257. (Two circles below pearl!) Condition: Scratches in outer fields and on edge, otherwise XF!  Weight: 13.34gm Diameter: 33mm Material: Silver

Obverse: Chinese dragon within clouds, around half pearl with seven flames. Two circles below pearl. Reverse: Chinese characters (denomination) around vertical mandarin legends. Rosettes at sides. Legend: "Kuang-hsu Yuan-pao"

Yunnan (literally "South of the Clouds") is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country. The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and Vietnam.

Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the relative height from mountain peaks to river valleys can be as much as 3,000 m. Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in China, Yunnan has over 17,000.

Yunnan became part of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) during 2nd century BC. It became the seat of a Tibeto-Burman speaking kingdom known as Nanzhao in the 8th century. Nanzhao was multi-ethnic, but the elite most likely spoke a language close to Yi and modern Burmese. The Mongols conquered the region in the 13th century, with local control exercised by warlords until the 1930s. As with other parts of China's southwest, Japanese occupation in the north during World War II forced a migration of Chinese into the region. Ethnic minorities in Yunnan account for about 34 percent of its total population. Major ethnic groups include Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai and Miao.