A Side Collection - China under Japanese Occupation

From 1933 through 1945 Japan issued coins for their occupation of China.
I stumbled across this while looking for my worldwide birthyear coins (1941).
It caught my fancy and was not a particularly large group; about 70 mostly inexpensive coins (if you stay away from UNC).
They were struck in copper, CuNi, Bronze, Aluminum and Fiber.
A question about the fiber coins later.

So I started collecting them.
At this point I have about 60 of them.
Here are the most recent to come through my mailbox:

1943 1 chiao (jiao) Provisional Government:



1939 5 fen Manchukuo:



1943 1 chiao (jiao) Manchukuo:



About the fiber coins.
Krause lists both red and brown colors.
People I've been buying from sort of question that.
There apparently is a Japanese reference book but I don't read Japanese.
Anyone know anything about this?

Oh, and it looks like I've got the reverse of the first coin upside down.

 

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for Kanga...

 

I have a few. Quick photos with my handy dandy flashlight...

Manchouko

10 Fen




Fen

 

East Hopei

 

Meng Chiang

5 Chiao , 1938

 

Hua Hsing Commercial Bank

 

Got them all except that Hua Hsing Commercial Bank piece.
I don't recognize it at all.

 

Taken from Standard Catalog..

The Hua Hsing Commerce Bank was a financial agency created
and established by the government of Japan and its puppet
authorities in Shanghai in May 1939. Notes and coins were issued
until sometime in 1941, with the quantities restricted by Chinese
aversion to accepting them.

 

The temple on the first coin is the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, it featured prominently on a lot of Chinese banknotes from that era - I wonder that by placing that image the authorities were trying to establish a familiarity?

 

This thread reminds me to update photos of my collection...

While Krause reckons these coins can be easily achievable, I can assure you that this is NOT the case. I've completed the Manchukuo coin set (all 50) some time back and this has proven to be very very difficult. Some coins were completely unobtainable in any condition. The same applies to the Federal Reserve Bank which is only a small set of 9 coins. East Hopei is actually much easier with 5 coins. The last one Hua Hsing is virtually unobtainable - only one is common. 1 fen does appear in the market once in a while at some absurd price and the other two is just rare.

Some highlights - I thought I had a proof like 1939 1 jiao photographed but I think I haven't got around to it. I must be missing some photos...







Here's a couple in digital coin album format

https://issuu.com/gxseries/docs/manchukuo_year_coin_album

https://issuu.com/gxseries/docs/puppet_type

This is also home to counterfeits.





Now back to sorting out what I have...

 

Does anyone have insight into the fiber issues of 1944 and 1945?
Are there really red varieties and brown varieties?
Or has Krause got it wrong?

And where are the Hua Hsing Commerce Bank listed?
Even if they are essentially impossible to get I'd at least like to see the listing.

 

Hua Hsing Commerce Bank is listed in Krause under "CHINA-JAPANESE PUPPET STATES" I think there are two issues. The 10 Fen CU I posted can't be that difficult to find. I have it. The lower denomination bronze Fen has a much higher value in Krause.

Not sure about the "fiber coins". I have one "fiber" that I can post. Not sure it is what you are looking for. There is also a "red clay" coin.

 

I found it!
I have it labeled as the Reformed Gov't of China.
The Hua Hsing Commerce Bank.
And you're right, the 10 fen isn't that hard to find.
I have it also.
But the 1 fen looks like it'll be difficult.
And I'm not even going to think about getting any of the Patterns

 

Yes, Krause is wrong sometimes.

I have a JNDA which has a section on 'Occupied Territories Coins'. It is a somewhat limited catalog but does have a large portion of varieties listed. It's also almost exclusively in Japanese which I don't read.

There are English subtitles for the main headings and I've had some basic translation done--but not for that section. That said there are coins that are labeled as composed of 'red fiber' but none as 'brown fiber'.

Now going to the porcelain pattern coin section of the catalog, the porcelain colors are not specified but I've seen them in white and shades of red. That's not a part I've had translated either, but it is notably different in that the colors are not listed as subtitles yet the 'Red Fiber' is for the Occupied coins.

I guess this is a long winded way of saying there is nothing to overtly suggest to the Japanese writing illiterate (me) that there is a 'Brown Fiber'. I'll check my older books later tonight or tomorrow when I get a chance.

 

"Red" fiber coins...

The error collectors would go bonkers over that 5 Fen cud...

 

A bit off topic, bit there was a "red clay" coin in Japan.

KM# 110, 1945

 

Found my photo too-- called both porcelain and clay depending on the resource. It's in the pattern section for the JNDA (though I think Krause has added it to the regular section, can't remember). Never officially used as the war ended.

 

My latest Krause has it listed as KM# 110

Note: Circulated unofficially for a few days before the end
of WWII in Central Japan; varieties of color exist

This is copied from the 2011 Standard Catalog. Hopefully I won't get banned for posting it.

 

I have this coin. I am envious of the grade of your coin. here's mine...




I added this coin to my "coins with insects" collection because it looks like the shape of a beetle in the first pic.

 

I do have a couple of fiber coins in both red and brown.

The way I see it is it's similar to how coins oxidize to air. It could also be a case of the coins being baked for too long. Imagine a brownie was in an oven for too long. Instead of the rich chocolate color, it's charred black. I suspect it's the same.