Japanese silver mon from Kuji mint? An oddity.

Not sure what to make of this one. I've been able to translate the characters as "mon" (denomination) on top and "Kuji" (the mint) at the bottom. Same design on both sides.
It appears to be silver, really small and weighs exactly 1.00 grams.I don't think it's silver plated because then it would be extremely difficult to get such a precise weight.
Couldn't find anything like this elsewhere at all.

Thoughts?

 

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The arcs - representing "waves" - date the coin to the late Tokugawa period through the very earliest Meiji years - roughly 1770-1870.

The "mon" was the smallest unit of pre-Meiji currency, and the value of 1 sen was equivalent to 1 mon when the currency change occurred in Meiji 3 (1870). The common denominations were 1- and 4-mon, with the 1-mon equal in size to a Chinese cash coin, and the 4-mon being somewhat larger. Large oval 100-mon coins were also cast.

Your specific coin is not depicted in the Japanese Numismatic Dealers Assn. catalog, and matching obverse/reverse was not a common style of Japanese cast coinage. I haven't had a chance yet to review other sources of information on pre-Meifi coinage, so I'm definitely not attributing your coin as anything but genuine at this time.

 

looks like a game token for kids???

 

I know nothing about Japanese coinage but maybe the "mon" here is not a denomination and the piece is not actually a coin.

The 文久 (Bunkyu) was the "era name" of Emperor Komei from February 1861 to February 1864.

Emperor Komei had several era names and, perhaps, this piece is commemorating his Bunkyu reign.

Gary

 

The very regular pattern of dots on the fields of the coin makes me beleive that it is a struck piece the dots are supposed to make it look cast, real Mons were cast.
This is probably a modern day replica or jewelery piece.

 

Thanks guys. From what I can gather of how it was made, it appear to be a relatively fine casting with the beads in the fields being a design element. Under magnification it shows some of the soft features typical of the casting process and no conclusive signs of being die-struck.

Thanks Gary for that info. I figured I'd go with the translation I mentioned due to the similarity of design to mon coins.
Just curious about what it is. =)