As you can see, I have some spare time on my hands, this weekend. It's raining, we are couped up at home so I am doing some cleanup in my inventory, scanning and cataloging. I was recently in Tokyo, Japan, for business. I didn't have time for anything but work, except the last day, and oddly, near the hotel I was staying at, was.... a coin store. Interestingly, most of the world coins there were scrubbed clean and still sold at a premium. I asked the owner to show me a Japanese crown, uncleaned, at a reasonable price (given the painful exchange rate). He gave me this original Meiji dynasty, 1895 Yen Crown. It's an interesting design, and quite common in terms of rarity. I would appreciate anyone who who can shed more light on the coin/era. Thanks!
You got that right! Y#A25.3/JNDA#1-10A, dated Meiji 28, Type II, 26.9568g .900 fine silver, .78 oz. ASW. Type II (minted from 1886-1912) has a diameter of 38.1mm and an almost undetectably greater thickness than Type I (minted from 1884-87) which had a diameter of 38.6mm. The 1895 mintage was 21,098,754 (rounded to 21,098,000 by Krause). Interpolating the catalog prices in Krause, an XF-AU example is valued in the neighborhood of $45-100. By comparison, that condition is much more realistically listed at ¥12-50,000 ($130-543) in the latest JNDA catalog.
Japanese coin value have been underrated for too long in Krause. For 40 dollars, I think that's a good buy.
