Eduard Kann (1880-1962) was a leading authority on Chinese coins. His first great work was "The Currencies of China", published in 1927 in Shanghai, China and reprinted in 1975 in New York. This massive work of 562 pages provides a history of the Chinese monetary system, and is of immeasurable value to collectors and numismatic researchers. The work reprinted here is of immense value, as it provides illustrations and photographs of the actual coins, most of which were in Dr. Kann's personal collection. He refers to this catalog as "A Labor of Love".