Well, I went to the Summer FUN show. This time’s big theme for me was Pre-Meiji Japan. I feel like I came out pretty well, if buying every type I could except for the prohibitively expensive types counts. I’ll start by denomination. 1 mon This 1 mon has a mintmark, Bun (文), which signifies that this coin was cast in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) from 1668 (the 8th year of the Kanbun era, thus bun as a mark) until 1683. This type was at least at first cast from the remains of a large image of the Bhudda that was toppled by an earthquake in 1662. Hartill lists this type as the Saiji (细字, delicate characters) type. It goes well with my other mintmarked mon from Sado (佐渡). 100 mon This type of 100 mon was cast at various places from 1835 to 1870. This coin was very profitable for the government to manufacture, so other domains who wanted in on the profits illicitly cast it. Hartill describes the signature at the bottom of the reverse as “a mint official’s.” What official would it be, and what is their name? 1 shu, nanryo This coin was first made in 1829, and continued until 1837. Nanryo means “pure silver”, which this coin lives up to with a silver purity of 98.9%. The denomination is actually not given, with the obverse instead reading “take sixteen to exchange for one Ryo (両, the standard gold coin, better known as a Koban).” The reverse displays a Fundo, a conventional symbol for an official weight, an incuse stamp meaning “Guaranteed”, the words Silver Mint and the name of the mint official, Joze. This was probably my best deal at the show. 1 shu, Ansei This shu was made during the Ansei period and beyond (1854-1865). Due to the opening of Japan to foreign trade and the ensuing rush by foreign merchants to gain quick profits, this type is now very common. The obverse now displays the actual denomination, along with the metal it is made of, silver. It actually has decent silver quality, 96.8%. The small round stamp on the reverse is not official. Any ideas on what it is? 2 shu, Tempo era This coin was first made in 1832, a bit before the 100 mon above, and lasted until 1858. The obverse has a Kiri (crest) of Paulownia leaves, which is a government emblem. The denomination is below. This looks gold, but would better be described as electrum, with a gold content of 29.8%. The reverse shows the characters and signature of the Gold Mint official Mitsutsugu. I do have one question about this type. The previous issue of this denomination was at the turn of the 18th century. What caused this seemingly sudden revival of this coin?
1 silver bu, Tempo era This piece was from 1837 to 1854. The legend on both sides is identical to the Ansei 1 shu, with the only change being the denomination. The Sakura blossoms on each side of the coin is one way to identifying which reign the coin came from. One of the sakuras on either side is upside down, and the location of this Sakura corresponds to one of three reigns. Calligraphy variations also can help, and for me it is easier to remember that than to search for a upside down blossom. The silver purity is 99.1%. This type is interesting to me because I don’t see it that often. That honor belongs to the next bu. 1 silver bu, Ansei era This is by far the most common bu, but it comes with an interesting story. It was made from 1859 to 1868 to exchange with foreign coins. It is also made of silver from foreign coins of lesser quality, resulting in a purity of 87.3%. This debasement resulted in the nickname “Mud silver” for this type. 2 bu, Meiji This two bu is the most common one, issued for two years, 1868 and 1869. The Boshin War, fought between the shogunate and the reformers who wanted to restore political power to the emperor, was the backdrop to this issue. With victory claimed for the emperor, modern minting equipment was installed at Osaka the next year and the old Ryo system of 4,000 mon, 16 shu, or 4 bu to a Koban was dropped in favor of a decimal coinage of the yen of 100 sen or 1000 rin. It has a gold quality of 22.3%. The design is like the two shu, except there are two Paulowania Kiri on the obverse.
I got to see a Koban there, but it was far out of my price range. There are two Paulowania Kiri, the denomination, 1 Ryo, and the Mitsutsugu character-signature combination again on the obverse. On the reverse, there is the era stamp (Po for Tempo in this case) a signature like the one on the 100 mon, and some mint officials’ markings. What do those markings mean? How many are known for any one type?
Great set of coins, Miles! Could that be considered a complete type set for the era (other than the gold)? I think it is cool you had a focus for the show and were able to score so many of them. John
Nope! There are many other types out there. If I was going by denomination even below the Koban, I am at least missing six coins.
Excellent write up and great pictures. If I recall the Japanese Shogunate had serious coin exchange problems following the initial opening of Japan to European and American traders. I believe this situation was reflected in the "bu" exchange rates with the Mexican minted silver pesos that also began to circulate at the time. Once the "bakufu" government was overthrown and the Imperial Court restored to power, the English mint was invited to send technicians to Osaka to establish a mint and stabilize a modern monetary system. Before then the non-Japanese traders were exchanging lower quality silver and gold for the "richer" Japanese coins.
