At first, I'd like to ask if it is okay that I make this thread here in Coin Chat? I've looked at all the other forums and this topic seems to fit the most here. If it's not, I'm really sorry and would be happy to repost this elsewhere. Anyway, I wanted to ask if I can get some help identifying the coin in some pictures that I have? I've been trying to figure it out but haven't been able to - If you could please help me out, that would be great! Thank you!
rubykristal, It is a Japanese 100 Yen coin with cherry blossoms on the reverse.Scroll down to the third coin on this page.Maybe someone who specializes in this area can tell you what year it was issued. http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Island/6653/jcoins.htm
I just found another place showing 100 yen coins.This one had "45" on the bottom front and is supposedly from 1970.Since yours has "51" on it,maybe it's a 1976 coin,perhaps the number of years Hirohito was on the throne.He became Emperor in Dec.1926. anyone??
THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY VERY MUCH, Mikjo0! I had an idea as to what country the coin came from but I searched and searched for pictures to help me identify it but I never got to the right sites!!! Thank you so much!!
Hi rubykristal, and welcome to the forum. A better place to have posted this inquiry would have been the World & Ancient forum, where it would have been certain to attract the attention of several experts. Since it has been correctly answered, I won't bother moving it. The modern Japanese coin dating system starts with "Gan Nen" or "First Year" in the initial year of an Emperor's reign, and then goes to "Year 2", "Year 3", etc. Most coins are dated in Japanese characters. "Showa" was the name for Emperor Hirohito's reign. His son, present Emperor Akihito, chose "Heisei" as the name for his reign, which began in 1989. As a result, in the early part of that year coins were minted with the date Showa 64, and in the final months the date was Heisei Gan. The western numerals were first used in Showa 42 (1967) when the ¥50 coin was redesigned, and the precedent was followed in Showa 43 (1968), with the new cu-ni ¥100 coins. Other than a few commemoratives, all other Japanese coins continue to use Japanese characters for dating. There is a chart of the Japanese numbers in Krause, but>> click here << for an excellent, easy to understand, explanation of the dating system, the numbers, and the Nengo (regnal names).
