I have just received a mixed lot of coins which included 4 from Japan. My refernce works allow me to identify them as Japanese, but no more. Can anyone please help? Sizes & weights as follows: Coin 1: 37.1mm 7.8g Coin 2: 27.5mm 5.1g Coin 3: 25.1mm 3.2g Coin 4: 24.3mm 2.8g :headbang:
#1, 3, and 4 are "mon" cash coins. The first one appears to be chop marked. They were minted between 1616-1769. #2 is a "4 mon" Nami cash minted between 1760-1860. As a note, #3 is a variation of the mon minted between 1668-1769, with the mint mark for Tokyo shown. By the size and weights, it is possible that they are all from different eras.
I had this link bookmarked but it seems to be unaccessible atm: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/roberts/coins/Japancash.html As for the value, most of them are very very common with the exception of the first coin with the countermark.
#1 is 10 Mon, Hoei Tsuho. KM#57, Cast in 1708. Cat $5 in VG. Not chopmarked, it was cast with the reverse characters.
