(scuffy slab!) I was going to load this onto the NEWP thread, but it has a bit of a back story. 1871 is an interesting year for the Japanese 50 sen. The 50 sen coins of 1870 are 31.51 mm, weigh 12.5 grams of .800 silver. The first 1871s minted were of the same specs, and have two varieties noted based on whether or not one of the characters has an upswept or straight style. These are referred to as the 'large size' variety. Later, a 'small size' variety was minted. Also 12.5 grams/.800 silver, but a mere 31 mm. The small size has two varieties as well. One version has a 19 mm diameter beaded circle around the central dragon, and the dragon has a flame that overlaps 3 of it's back spines. The much more rare version has a 21 mm circle and is called the '2 spine' version as the same flame only overlaps 2 of the spines. Interestingly, the large size coin does also have almost the same two spines overlapped--not exactly the same, but definitely not three. Needless to say, it is not uncommon for someone to think their large size is the small size/2 spine. In this NEWP's case though, the NGC label is wrong and declares it a 21 mm (and by extension the small size). Lacking calipers, it has the correct features for the large size clearly visible. Other than being an upgrade I must confess that part of the draw of this particular coin is that I have a PCGS slab that mis-attributes a small size/21 mm rarity as the large size. Having an NGC slab going the other way amuses me. So, I dropped a reasonable retail bid and HOPED no one would be fooled by the label. We are talking an order of magnitude difference in catalog value ie. $400 vs. $4000 (catalog mind you, and in yen, but you get the idea). Fortunately I was the winner at a reasonable retail bid...but considering what the label implied I was worried the seller would have cold feet and it would never be sent. 'lost it'. 'sold it elsewhere and forgot to remove listing'. That sort of thing. Or, more dastardly, a package empty or with some other coin. Instead I got to watch the Priority mail take a wee bit of a detour halfway across the country (who knew Omaha was on the way between New Jersey and Virginia??!!) and the proper coin showed up. Shame on me for not having more faith!
Indeed, a neat coin and interesting writeup. I always enjoy learning something new and these Meiji era coins continually surprise me.
