The first Silver Panda coins—issued in 1983, 1984 and 1985—were proof quality, with a precious metal content of 27 grams of 0.900 fine silver and a diameter of 38.6 mm. Mintages were only 10,000 for each year. In 2015 both the Gold and Silver Panda coins no longer list the metal fineness and weight much to the dismay of collectors. Some of the finest Silver coins in the world, the Silver Panda coins are .999 fine Silver and are legal Chinese tender. In 2016, the People's Republic of China began minting Silver Pandas in metric system sizes to better suit the international appeal of the coins. These gram sizes replaced the troy ounce sizes of previous dates in the series.