Gold Panda Large Date and Small Date Varieties
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OverviewChina started producing gold pandas in 1982. In the mid-1990s, they started minting two different varieties, the small date and large date. This wasn't recognized by coin collectors immediately, and still many collectors are not aware of this.Worse, I haven't come across any website that describes this. And at least one dealer is selling coins as small date that are really not small date coins. Confusing things more is that there are several varieties of counterfeit coins out there, that could have dates that look different from the genuine coins. I am still in the process of finding out more information about what years have multiple varieties. One of the difficulties in determining which years have multiple varities is that you have to do a lot of searching (for example, even if you come across pictures of sheets of 10 coins, they will all be the same variety; coins from the same dealer often will be the same variety as well). One source shows the varieties starting in 1990 (which may be the case for the silver pandas), another shows 1995 through 1999, and Krause shows them from 1996 through present (although they are missing some of the years). My best guess at this point is that using multiple date varieties started in 1997, and ended in 1999. I found 10 different pictures of 1996 gold pandas and all had large dates (and 8 different pictures of 1995s all had large dates, as well). No samples from 1993 through 1996 or 2000 through 2008 had small dates (except 2004, which I would consider a small date, but no 1/10 ounce coins had a different variety).
How To Tell The DifferenceThe best way to tell the difference between the small date and large date varieties is to see real coins of both types. Almost as good is looking at pictures of both (which I'm hoping to get up here at some point).But, without real coins or pictures to look at, here's what you can do. Take a look at the lines on either side of the stairs leading down from the Temple of Heaven. Imagine that they continued down to the edge of the coin. If you're completely certain that the date would fit completely within those extended lines, it's the small date variety. If it clearly would not fit, or you are not sure, it's the large date variety.
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