The biggest wish for Eric Smith, an English teacher working in Beijing, this year is to snag a set of gold and silver commemorative coins themed on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

As an ardent fan of different types of commemorative coins, Smith has tried every means to purchase this special set immediately after the central bank announced its plan to issue them on Sept 16.

According to the People's Bank of China, the set comprises three gold coins and two silver ones. All together, 60,700 gold coins will be issued with face values of 10,000 yuan, 2,000 yuan, and 100 yuan. A total of 106,000 silver coins will be issued with the face values of 300 and 10 yuan. The coins will be distributed by China Gold Coin Incorporation.