Thread: Japanese coin help...

Hello all, I need some help today with a Japanese coin I purchased a while back (hontonai, I'm guessing you'll be the most help here). I purchased it from a dealer who sells a lot of better-quality world coins, and for the most part, he sells the majority of his BU world coins at just above melt. Anyway, the item in question is a BU Japanese 10 sen (silver), and I believe I paid around $8 for it, maybe less, even.

I'm starting to catalog my collection, and yesterday I began the processes of researching this particular coin. From what I can tell, it appears that it is from 1912 (Taisho-Gan). I believe, then that this is a first-year issue, then, of the Emperor Taisho (please correct me if I'm wrong). If so, then the KM# is KM36.

Could someone please tell me the value of a year-one Taisho 10 sen (1912) in Unc/BU? Don's World Coin Gallery puts the value at $60 (http://worldcoingallery.com/values/Japan.htm), but I think his pricing is based on an older Krause catalog. Also, in case this is NOT a year-one coin, could someone supply me with the Unc/BU values for a Taisho 10 sen, years 2-6 (also silver, before the switch to CuNi)?

Thanks in advance. I'm hoping I lucked out and purchased a coin worth much more than I thought!

Probably not that high, Taisho gan 10 sen would be around 30-40USD and a Taisho 10 in UNC would be around 20USD but that's in nickel-cupro. The switch is made in Taisho 9 (1920). Taisho 7 and 8 10 sen coins would be an extremely lucky find if you can find them - extremely rare. UNC coins from year 2-6 is around 10 USD ish, whether you believe me or not.

Old Japanese silver coins are somewhat undervalued except for the silver yens and trade dollars as well as the gold coins.

Originally Posted by gxseries

Probably not that high, Taisho gan 10 sen would be around 30-40USD and a Taisho 10 in UNC would be around 20USD but that's in nickel-cupro. The switch is made in Taisho 9 (1920). Taisho 7 and 8 10 sen coins would be an extremely lucky find if you can find them - extremely rare. UNC coins from year 2-6 is around 10 USD ish, whether you believe me or not.

Old Japanese silver coins are somewhat undervalued except for the silver yens and trade dollars as well as the gold coins.

Thanks for the info! I will go ahead and post pictures tonight so that I can get a more positive ID plus some grading opinions.

I'm pretty sure it's a Taisho gan, but even then, looks like I still made out considering what I paid for it.

Both the JNDA Catalog and Krause give the mintage as 10,344,307 for the Taisho Gan 10 sen, which is 2.25g of .72 silver (actual ASW .0521 oz. - ~$1 melt). In the 2008 catalog the value ranges from ¥800 (~$7.85) - ¥30,000 (~$295.00). That price range is more real world than Krause.

I'm waiting to see the picture to verify both the date and the condition.

Originally Posted by hontonai

Both the JNDA Catalog and Krause give the mintage as 10,344,307 for the Taisho Gan 10 sen, which is 2.25g of .72 silver (actual ASW .0521 oz. - ~$1 melt). In the 2008 catalog the value ranges from ¥800 (~$7.85) - ¥30,000 (~$295.00). That price range is more real world than Krause.

I'm waiting to see the picture to verify both the date and the condition.

Ha, well, I like that price range better.

Expect photos in just a few hours. I'm excited to see exactly what I have, even if it turns out to be a more common coin.

OK, attached are photos. They're not perfect, but they're decent...not to mention large. I'm anxious to hear what you guys think of this coin! FYI, the lighting is a little off, but I can tell you that the second picture (what I assume to be the 'reverse') has a lot more luster than the first shot (the 'obverse'). Either way, there's no noticeable wear on this coin. It may not be BU, but it's definitely uncirculated.

Actually the top photo is the reverse and the bottom is the obverse.

The coin is dated Taisho 4 (1915). The character just above 3:00 (四) is "yon" or "shi". That makes it Y#36.2 rather than 36.1. The physical specifications are the same.

Gan looks like this: 元

In the condition shown the JNDA valuation is between ¥2,500-5,000 ($24.75-$49.50); probably closer to the low end of that range.

Thanks again for the additional info, esp. the correct catalog number. Unfortunately, there weren't any sites I could find with information on this coin or Japanese numismatics in general.

What kind of information is on the reverse of the coin? The obverse has the ruling year and denomination...anything else?

I'm still glad to hear it has more value than I initially thought. Now that I think about it, I probably payed closer to $6 for it.

Originally Posted by Jhonn

Unfortunately, there weren't any sites I could find with information on this coin or Japanese numismatics in general.

Try my favorite Japanese coin site or the Japan Mint Bureau's English language site.

What kind of information is on the reverse of the coin?

The character that looks like a plus sign is "10" and the character below it is "sen". The symbol at the top is the Imperial Chrysanthemum.

The obverse has the ruling year and denomination...anything else?

Reading clockwise above the English "10 Sen", is "Dai Nihon Taisho Yon Nen" (Great Japan, Taisho 4 Year).

Hontonai, that site is going to look very awkward on My Favorites list. It comes up as "Japanese Dating"!

Perfect. I actually came across that site initially, but I didn't see the section you linked to. This will be most helpful in the future.

This was a site that I was trying to put but looks like it's going to be extremely expensive. Yes, the catalogue number is from the JNDA 07 http://www.gxseries.com/numis/japant...ype_modern.htm

This is KM Y#36 Yr.4 (1915), Value is 1.75$ based on my Krause.


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