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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Milesofwho, post: 3615385, member: 91469&quot;]1 silver bu, Tempo era[ATTACH=full]968526[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]968525[/ATTACH] </p><p>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.</p><p>1 silver bu, Ansei era</p><p>[ATTACH=full]968527[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]968528[/ATTACH]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.</p><p>2 bu, Meiji[ATTACH=full]968529[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]968530[/ATTACH]</p><p>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.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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