These 1 Rin coins had a monetary value of only 1/1000th of a Yen. Not surprisingly, they measure only 15.75mm across (still slightly larger than a US three cent silver piece). They remain the smallest denomination of modern (i.e., Meiji and after) Japanese coinage. This one happily retained some of its yummy copper luster, so I grabbed it. NGC graded it MS 64 RB. Obverse: 明治七年 - Seventh year of the reign of Emperor Meiji or 1874 大日本 - "Great Japan" Reverse: 一厘 - One Rin
I find the rin coin to be odd at best. I do have some in my collection but am never a big fan of it. Mintage of some years can be plenty but if you are trying to do a complete year set... best of luck. Some year mintage are less than 1000 and I think I've seen one that was sold for close to 5 figures from memory. Nevertheless a nice looking coin!
Isn't a yen already a very low value coin? What could you buy with 1/1000th of a yen? Or was the yen a more valuable coin back then? Either way, that is a very attractive piece. Congrats!
A yen was divided into 100 sen or 1000 rin from the 1870 to 1953. In 1953 they got rid of all the fractions and made the yen the only currency unit in Japan. Before that the yen was big and dollar sized, at least until before WWII. Here’s an example. So yes, it was more valuable back then.
I had to go back and find what I have in my collection - it's just all over the place at the moment. Despite how I am not a big fan of them, turns out I had some...
I always wonder in what year(s) did changes in the consumer price index in Japan make certain coins not good stores of value any longer (for the everyday consumer to use and carry) like the One-Rin, and maybe others, like the contemporary One-Yen and Five-Yen. Or maybe consumer price index is not the tool to use?
When I wrote my undergraduate thesis at college I focused on Japanese monetary history. (That was well before I started collecting coins). The rin was only in existence from 1873 to 1884. There was a shortage of "new" currency following the end of the Shogunate (Bakufu) in 1868. The rin was a transitional currency for the masses until the Bank of Japan was established in 1882. The new Meiji government gave the Bank of Japan (BOJ) the sole power to control the issuance of currency. In 1888 the other low denomination coin, the 1/2 sen, an all copper coin was discontinued. For a brief period after WWI (Japan was an allied nation) the BoJ minted a 5 rin Bronze coin (Taisho 5-8) or 1916-1919. That concluded the brief history of the rin. For those of you who can read Chinese or Japanese "kanji" the character for "rin" includes the Chinese character or "ji" for homeland or village - "sato" in Japanese. I often find these relationships fascinating in Asian currencies.
Could you make that available to us? Or, convert it into a thread and post it here? I'd be very interested in reading it.
Yes, I would like to read that thesis as well, but I also understand why people may not want to distribute their work over the Internet. Can you share some sources that you used for your research for the thesis, @Sullykerry2? I also have a 5 Rin (五厘) dated Taisho Year 8 (大正八年) or 1919, the final year that Japan minted a Rin coin. NGC graded this one MS64RD. It's slightly smaller than a US small cent. I've always wondered about the Rin. The mintage figures compared with Yens of corresponding years don't always make sense on the surface. 1873/4: Rins: 6,979,260; Yens: 3,543,037; Ratio: 1.97 1875: Rins: 3,718,840; Yens: 5,392,006; Ratio: 0.69 1884: Rins: 16,009,130; Yens: 3,799,192; Ratio: 4.21 How did the mint officials decide how many to make in a given year? The mintage numbers are all over the place, but one would have to factor in the Sens to get a better sense of total proportion and distribution of minting. The 1 Rin may not be a very fascinating coin aesthetically (I actually like it), but it may have served as the monetary powerhouse for the general population. Though one would also think the same of the US Half Cent in its own era, but that doesn't appear to be true. So who really knows?
The rin is an interesting denomination. It was a bridge denomination between the old pre-Meiji system and the reformed system which brought the Japanese monetary system into line with the other major countries' systems. Under the reformed system 1000 cash (mon) = 1 Yen, so 1 mon = 1 of the old square holed cash coins. Sort of like the British 1/2 New Pence.
While we’re on that topic, how did the old silver and gold coins fit into the reformed system? Here’s a Meiji shu to show how late they made them, and for reference.
I think the more you research about Japanese coinage, the more you'll find out how the Western world abused their power and squeezed everything they could. In 1500s, Japan was mining about 30% (!) Of world's silver and had significant gold deposit. Obviously Japan doesn't do such large scale mining due to environmental restrictions. When the Western countries forced Japan to open its doors for trade, large amount of gold were removed as the gold to silver ratio was a lot smaller compared to other countries at that time. Hence Japan was forced to react by reducing gold content and overhaul its currency. So much for the 'fair trade' back in those days.
Where did you find this information? I'm not at all doubting that it's true, I would just like to read the source(s) myself.
On the Izu Peninsula where Shimoda (where Perry stayed awaiting permission to visit Yedo and the Shogun) there were small gold and silver mines. Yet much of the gold and silver were brought over from China via Korea. You will see gold leaf decorating the small buddhas in Japanese temples. Yes, @gxseries is correct that early on Japanese used silver and gold coins that had higher purity. The Ansei -2 shu Boeki (trade) would be freely traded against the Mexican silver peso. I forget the ratio but it was favorable to the traders coming up from the Philippines or Mexico. By the late 1860s and early 1870, the Japanese brought in professional advisers from the English mint to help set up and standardize the Japanese monetary system. In 1871 the Osaka Mint was established with the technical assistance of these Englishman. From 1875-1877 the Osaka Mint issued its "Trade Dollar" known as the Boeki Dollar of .900 silver content. These Japanese dollars were supposed to be interchangeable with the U.S. trade dollar that ws minted from 1883 through 1878.
I don't agree on the silver comment. Japan in 1500s were supplying about 30% of global silver demand. Japan actually does have rich gold and silver mine deposit but no longer mine due to environmental concerns. Some mines easily have deposits of 30-50g gold and 250g silver average per tonne of rock. While this might seem low, a lot of global mining operations run budget at 2g per tonnes. 6g per tonnes is considered to be rich. I believe Sado mine in Niigata had much higher concentration. In fact Sado mine was so rich that it ran for 350+ years before it closed down. Think about it - Japan is on top of four techtonic plates and has active volcanic areas. If you know a bit of geology , that should tell you a lot.
