Sorry, I've looked at websites hoping I could figure out where these coins are from. Someone a while ago gave me some information and I wrote the information down, but unfortunately I've misplaced the paper. These coins are so confusing and pictures might be upside down or sideways not sure, I would like to know again if someone can tell me the date & possibly the year and if they are pennies, dimes, nickels etc...? Found these coins in a pouch that belonged to my father-in-law. A friend of mine gave me a website to look at which I did but goodness I just don't get it! Not a collector of these coins but would appreciate any information you can give me. There are a few pictures but would like to know as much as I can. Thank you!!
Top one is a Japanese 10 sen, dated Showa 19 aka 1944. Made of tin, hence the poor surfaces. Hard to come by in good shape. Fourth one down is a Japanese 1 sen, dated Showa 10, 1935. The second photo is upside down. Nothing super scarce or valuable, but kind of cool--if I had a holed coin like that I'd probably stick it on my keychain. The sen is a fraction of the yen...100 sen to the yen. The original yen was either a small gold coin, or a large silver crown type coin intended for trade. Domestically was supposed to be gold, plus the fractional coins. By the time WWII was heating up most coins were base metals (last silver pre-war 50 sen was the 1938 which was much reduced vs. earlier iterations). Once the war was in full swing the coins debased by metal content and weight to the point where at the end of the war there were patterns being made of porcelain/clay coins (only a limited number 'circulated'). After, the large silver yen became a small brass coin minted last in 1950, and the 50 sen was the last surviving fractional temporarily (gone by 1948). Bam, monetary reform, and the 1 yen became the lowest denomination in a small aluminum coin still minted from 1955 to now. Sort of like if our original silver dollars and dollar coins pre-1933 were replaced and the dollar was now our cent, and minted out of base metals, and all coins moving up were multiples. I guess you could say the 10 sen was an obsolete 'dime', and the 1 sen 'a cent', but the base unit being a yen makes them even more fractional. (currently 1 dollar is 111 yen, so the 100 yen coin is sort of a dollar-ish). The others I leave to those more able to deal with cash coins.
The Japanese coins are correctly ID'd thanks to @Stork. The remaining three coins are all from China, during the last dynasty, the Qing or Manchu. The Qing were originally from the region of Manchuria, and their coins used mintmarks in the Manchu script on the reverse. Similar coins, which were cast and had a square hole in them, were first made in China over 2000 years ago and continued (with changes in the inscription) until the end of the Empire. More details: Coin 2. Should be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise (both sides). The Qianlong emperor (1736-1795), Board of Works mint in Beijing. The most common mintmarks for Qing coins are Board of Works and Board of Revenue, both of which were in Beijing; many other provincial mints also made coins. There are a lot of subtle varieties, based on details of how the characters are written; I think your coin is Hartill 22.268-270, which was issued posthumously in 1800. Hartill rarity scale 14 (Very Common). Coin 3. Obverse is correct orientation, reverse is upside-down. The Guangxi emperor (1875-1908). Guangzhou mint in Guangdong province. This coin is machine-struck rather than cast, as modern mint machinery was introduced to China at this time (but casting of coins also continued on a limited scale up until the beginning of the Republic, alongside machine-struck coinage- some habits are hard to break). Hartill 22.1334, issued 1889-1890. Rarity 15 (Very Common). Coin 5. Should be rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Kangxi emperor (1662-1722). Jiangning (Nanking) mint. Hartill 22.119, issued 1662-1670. The reverse has the mintmark "Ning" in both Manchu script and standard Chinese script. Rarity 15 (Very Common). So, nothing rare or valuable, but some very cool and interesting and historical coins nonetheless.
Thank you so much for the information again it is greatly appreciated. Have to ask... this site would only allow me to post 10 coins at a time so is it okay to post more of these coins? Can I just upload more pictures on this post? Thank you
Again Thanks everyone for the information on these coins. Glad I found this site, great knowing if you have questions there is site to ask the experts.
I can't help you with those unfortunately. The worst that happens is no one sees the thread or chimes in. If I were getting a real interest in these, this is the reference I'd buy: https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Cash-C...68V8CYM8XB7&psc=1&refRID=MH797X2RJ68V8CYM8XB7 Well, technically I have bought it, I just haven't cracked it open anytime in the last 2 years (Amazon tells me I bought in March of 2017). Hartill also has a Chinese specific cash coin book and an early Japanese coinage book too.
What is interesting to me is that the Manchu writing was adopted from Arabic writing. But, they changed the orientation (orient... hah! another double meaning) anyway, they changed the direction 90 degrees. But if you do not know that, your eyes and brain suggest the horizontal reading, not the vertical.
#908 Qianlong #910 Xianfeng #911 Daoguang #914 also Qianlong #916 also Qianlong, looks like a modern replica, but I'm no expert. If you need to read the Manchurian mint marks a Krause guide has all of them. Anything with Manchurian script should be Qing Dynasty (1616-1912).
