The Chinese calendar offers an intriguing system of time measurement that predates all other calendars. For coin collectors, its yearly changing of themes also makes it well designed for commemorative coins.

February 7 marks the start of the ‘Year of the Rat‘, which occurs once every 12 years. (Several past, present and next occurrence years are, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020.)

For this new year, there are several commemorative coins celebrating the event from at least two different countries.

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Chinese archaeologists have raised an 800 year-old merchant ship built during the Song dynasty (960-1279). It’s dubbed the "Titanic of China" and before sinking, it was hauling a treasure trove of porcelain, gold, jewels and other artifacts, including 6,000 coins.

The treasure ship, officially labeled Nanhai No. 1, or “South China Sea No. 1,” was discovered 82 ft (25m) below water in a bed of mud. That mud helped to preserve the ancient ship and its contents for all these years.

Thousands of artifacts have been recovered and the remarkable next phase has already occurred - the Nanhai 1 was lifted from the sea floor and loaded onto a cargo ship.

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