Lesson plan
Auto Dollar
The Auto Dollar ( , also known as or Kweichow Auto Dollar in English) is a silver one yuan coin minted by Chinese warlord in 1928 to commemorate the construction of roadways in Guizhou province. The obverse of the coin features an automobile driving along a road, flanked by grass arranged to spell out Zhou's personal name, Xicheng ( ). Zhou rose to power in Guizhou in 1927, during the political and military upheaval of the Warlord Era. He had acquired the rural province's first known automobile, oversaw the construction of roadways across the region, and saw the foundation of a mint and arsenal in Guiyang. Unlike other Chinese warlords, he never commissioned coinage featuring his image. Although some sources described Zhou's automobile as a soft-topped model from the Hudson Motor Car Company, the vehicle featured on the coin does not appear to closely correspond to any specific make or model. 648,000 coins of the type were produced at the Guiyang mint. The coin fell out of regular circulation in the early 1930s, partially due to demand from international coin collectors. The Auto Dollar is a rare and heavily counterfeited type; a certified example graded in mint condition sold for US$336,000 at a 2023 auction.
Article summary
The Auto Dollar ( , also known as or Kweichow Auto Dollar in English) is a silver one yuan coin minted by Chinese warlord in 1928 to commemorate the construction of roadways in Guizhou province. The obverse of the coin features an automobile driving along a road, flanked by grass arranged to spell out Zhou's personal name, Xicheng ( ). Zhou rose to power in Guizhou in 1927, during the political and military upheaval of the Warlord Era. He had acquired the rural province's first known automobile, oversaw the construction of roadways across the region, and saw the foundation of a mint and arsenal in Guiyang. Unlike other Chinese warlords, he never commissioned coinage featuring his image. Although some sources described Zhou's automobile as a soft-topped model from the Hudson Motor Car Company, the vehicle featured on the coin does not appear to closely correspond to any specific make or model. 648,000 coins of the type were produced at the Guiyang mint. The coin fell out of regular circulation in the early 1930s, partially due to demand from international coin collectors. The Auto Dollar is a rare and heavily counterfeited type; a certified example graded in mint condition sold for US$336,000 at a 2023 auction.
Key claims
- date of establishment: 1926 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- The record states that the date of establishment is "1926". What evidence would count against this claim?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371931472
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.