Anchor the Republic Year 3 date to the coin
Photograph the complete portrait, date-lettering and grain-wreath sides before adding hair, epaulette, character, ribbon, denticle or edge details. Year 3 belongs to the visible date field, not an ownership story.
Preserve weight, diameter, instrument, unit and reading position. Separate circulation wear, weak strike, knocks, cleaning lines and rim work so a single grade word cannot hide them.
Coins carrying the same broad date still require object-level comparison. Avoid tests that scratch, collide with or change the patina of this dollar.
Make the edge a continuous record
Photograph the circumference in overlapping sections and retain joins, filing, holes, solder and former mounting traces. State the impact before any direct handling.
Differentiate patina, high-point wear, weak strike, wiping lines and chemical-cleaning colour. Dark metal does not need to be cleaned for the record.
Describe surface and strike independently
Number multiple Yuan Shikai dollars before grouping dates or proposed varieties. Each portrait side, wreath side, edge, weight and diameter remains tied to its own coin.
Copy holder wording and grade separately, then compare the enclosed date, variety, portrait, wreath and surface without opening the slab.
Maintain one identifier per silver dollar
Transcribe the date, denomination and legends on both faces, then interpret weight and diameter only after those observations make the coin type defensible. Preserve raw values and units.
Retain full circumferences before details of portrait hair, epaulette, date characters, grain wreath, ribbon, denticles or a proposed variety marker.
Set the threshold for examining the metal
Keep countermarks, sleeves and provenance accounts in the source field. They cannot replace portrait lettering, grain details, strike, surface or edge observations.
Names such as signed, O variety, triangular yuan or regional issue require corresponding features on this coin. Otherwise they remain provisional research terms.
Tie the Republic Year 3 date to portrait, wreath and circumference
Read the Republic Year 3 date on the complete portrait side, then connect denomination, wreath, ribbon and grain details to the complete reverse. Each proposed variety marker needs an adjacent design reference.
Lay out the circumference from a named starting point and locate countermarks, holes or rim work on that sequence. A holder-obscured arc stays unresolved.
Keep sleeves, grading holders, labels and oral descriptions as dated attachments. Where their attribution conflicts with the visible Yuan Shikai dollar, preserve both accounts without filling an unread character.
Pair weight, diameter, instruments and original units with the same object number as the faces and edge. Any remeasurement remains a dated reading rather than a replacement.
Bring the Republic Year 3 coin in its existing package with the exact missing portrait, wreath or circumference view listed. Examination begins only after that location and likely effect are clear.
