I'm not sure if this is even a coin or just a fantasy piece sold to tourists (it was found in a junk bin at the TNA show). It's longer than 38mm across the longest axis (pictures show it against a 2x2 for a dollar sized coin), but only about 30mm across the narrow axis. Any ID help would be appreciated:
Wonder what you could buy with one of these? A pound of rice? A pair of sandals? A live chicken? Carrying any quantity of these to the market would be quite a job, even if you wore them on a string...
Japanese 1835-70 , 19th century Krause C#7, denomination- 100 Mon (Tempo Tsuho) grade/value VG-$5.00 F-$8.00 VF-$12.00 XF-$17.50 yours looks XF guessing. cast bronze. cast at Edo (Tokyo) and Osaka.
That's a good question - I ask myself that about a lot of the coins that pass through my hands. The 100 Mon is pretty darn substantial - I have to imagine that it was worth at least a meal or two. During the same time period in the US, a large copper cent was 10-30% of a night's stay at a hotel.
And a newspaper rarely cost more than one cent, suggesting that a hotel stay was worth ten newspapers. Not today, that's for sure!
Since one mon was the cash size coin, this might be called the dollar to that cent. I believe 4000 mon (one gold ryo or 40 of these) bought a koku of rice which was about 150kg and considered a year's supply for one person. Of course, like all questions of this sort, prices varied over time and place. George Washington got more for a dollar than you do.
