The first five One Yen auctions - about 2/3 of the way down the page - all picture coins dated Meiji 8 (1875). Is it my imagination, or do they look like they all came from the same mold? The real coins have a very narrow rim with large denticles close to the edge. The "yen" in the last auction is dated Meiji 6, and has an extremely poor copy of the "gin" countermark applied to many of the coins minted from 1870-97. The characters in the real countermark touch the edge of the circle around them. Of course if anyone is looking for a real bargain, be aware that In Meiji 8 there were only 139,000 silver yen minted, with a Krause value starting at $2,000, and a JNDA value starting at ¥600,000 (~$5,800); and the Meiji 6 is unique, as the Japan Mint Bureau's records give a mintage of zero for that year.
I only looked at the first coin on the auctions listings. It is definitely a cast copy and a poor one at that. The denticles are all over the place I don't think I need to bother looking at any more to feel safe in saying that the possibility of any of these (including the Chines coins also listed) being genuine is exceedingly remote. Ian
