I have several uncirculated ones from the 80s and I'm not sure if I should keep them in flips or just throw them into my bag of "spending" money for the next time I go to Japan. On a related note, is there a way to check for counterfeits with the first generation 500 Yen coins? Or were the counterfeits of the time mainly just foreign coins that had been made into slugs?
I'm not an expert in foreign coins but can we at least see some specimens of this coin?? Have you tried Numista.com for values?? Thanks, and good luck.
IIRC there were cheats using similar foreign coins in machines. But also some actual counterfeits given it was basically the highest value circulating coin. The new style is def. more difficult. I haven't updated this website in quite awhile, and currently have switched hosts so will not do so again until I get organized. This page doesn't add new info other than at the time I typed it up I did find some reports of actual counterfeits. The pix of new vs. old might be of interest to some. As for the numismatic question. If you have some super high grade ones they sell for some premium in a slab to a collector, but for the most part they are spending money IMO. https://www.starcityhomer.com/500-yen.html
Here's the coins in question. I did check numista but people supposedly pay much more than FV for new 500 yen coins which I find doesn't really help give an accurate measure of their values in Japan. 500 yen coins by brandon08967 posted Apr 26, 2023 at 4:39 PM 500 yen coins by brandon08967 posted Apr 26, 2023 at 4:39 PM
Thanks! This is quite helpful. I don't think the ones I have are worth getting graded. While I have you, are any of the modern circulating japanese coins worth keeping? I set aside any reeded 10 yen coins I come across, but I'm not sure if there's anything to look at with any of the other denominations.
Off the top of my head, not much. If they are gemmy the older ones, like 1960s-early 1970s. The 1987/year S.62 50 yen had an astonishingly small mintage and is listed for more (under a million minted). The one yen in recent years has had smaller mintages as well, both for Heisei and Reiwa and have catalog values higher. If you are looking to collect I highly recommend either getting a JNDA catalog or the newer (and in English!) Standard Catalog of Japanese Coins. The latter has sooo much stuff I laboriously had translated or parsed out...and there it is in English. Sigh. Clark Smith sells the latter both on his website (cheaper) and sometimes on eBay (don't see it currently listed though). Scroll down and you can see it. I'm hoping for an updated edition soonish (there were a few typos and I'd love for him to add the porcelain/clay coins). Very nice book though. He is likely in Japan this week though for the big Tokyo show, so don't expect a quick response at the moment. https://www.coinvault.com/japan.htm Here is the current JNDA. The shipping on this listing is appalling. And though there is a special section each year that varies, for the most part it is unchanging. The coin values can be optimistic because what we call MS is maybe not so in there. But it can ballpark and show you which years are good. https://www.ebay.com/itm/4041489568...o/uul6gk0XmnAEkM4l8b7XdMMU|tkp:Bk9SR96vyob4YQ My website hasn't been updated with the current era/Emperor, and hope to do so at some point. I changed web hosts and need to redo the site as it was built with a proprietary one with the company I ditched. But the basics are there. This is the page for dating coins at least (and you can use your imagination for Reiwa). https://www.starcityhomer.com/reading-japanese-coins.html
Wow thanks for all the resources! I guess I'll wait a bit too as far as an updated book. I also understand your pain with translating. I can read (some) Chinese but it can be a real pain trying to figure out what texts are actually trying to say. But thanks again for all the info! My LCS sells all his non-silver/gold foreign stuff by weight and so I usually pick out any modern 10+ yen coins I find (almost 20,000 in coins alone last I checked.) I guess I'll look through to see if there's anything nicer in that mix (or the 50 yen coin you mentioned.)
While in Japan on a job, I ran across these and pointed it out to the Japanese people around me. Same as most Americans, the reply was..."Who cares"
really interesting website. i used to live in Okinawa but never got to explore the island as much as i would have liked
I view these like finding a wheat penny here. Personally, I'll pull some of the less commonly-seen stuff, like 1 yen from Heisei 10 and later, or 10 yen from a couple of the Showa 6x dates, but I do this more for if there's another date collector who needs them than for any potential value. For the Showa 500 yen, I'd probably keep years 61, 62, and 64 for that purpose. Anything else goes in my forex bags.
