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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Eidolon, post: 4377395, member: 102103&quot;]Part 9:&nbsp; 10 sen</p><p>From Top L:&nbsp; Meiji 32 (1899), Taisho 12 (1923), Showa 2 (1927), Showa 11 (1936), Showa 18 (1943), Showa 19 (1944), Showa 21 (1946)[ATTACH=full]1104147[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]1104150[/ATTACH]</p><p>I like the 10 sen series, because Japan kept making them all through the war, with several design and composition changes in response to inflation and shortages.&nbsp; There are several types.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In the Meiji Era, they were a small silver coin.&nbsp; There was a minor weight increase in Meiji 6 (1873), which was matched by a weight increase in the other silver coinage:&nbsp; 5 sen (Meiji 6), 20 sen (Meiji 6), 50 sen (Meiji 6) and 1 yen (Meiji 7, but no 1 yen silver coins were minted in Meiji 4-6 = 1871-1873).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I haven&#039;t been able to find a detailed reference to why this occurred, but I have an educated guess.&nbsp; The Franco-Prussian War ended in 1871, with Prussia demanding a huge reparations payment from France in gold as a result.&nbsp; The shock of this knocked France off of a bimetallic standard to a gold standard, and several major countries followed suit, such as the US with the Coinage Act of 1873.&nbsp; This put downward pressure on the price of silver relative to gold as many economies demonetized silver at the same time.&nbsp; Japan was still on a silver standard (as was China) at the time, and making coinage out of both gold and silver.&nbsp; The 1 yen was made of gold from Meiji 4-13 (1871-1880), with some missing years, and concurrently of silver from Meiji 3 to Taisho 3 (1870 - 1914).&nbsp; By increasing the weight of the silver coinage, Japan was able to keep the value ratio of the gold and silver coinage in line with the world prices of silver and gold after a downward shock in the demand for silver in 1871.&nbsp; Japan would adopt the gold standard later, in 1897.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, inflation eventually kicked in, and the the 10 sen was reduced in weight and given a new design in Meiji 40 (1907), for which I don&#039;t have an example.&nbsp; By Taisho 9 (1920), a base metal 10 sen was introduced, of copper nickel.&nbsp; Two examples of this type are shown in the second and third from left in the top row, one each from the Taisho and Showa Eras.&nbsp; A new design made of nickel (far left, top row), was minted from Showa 8-12 (1933-1937).&nbsp; I&#039;m missing an example of the aluminum-bronze type from Showa 13-15 (1938-1940).</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin was debased almost yearly at this point in the war.&nbsp; An aluminum 10 sen was made from Showa 15-18 (1940-1943), shown bottom left.&nbsp; A tin-zinc (bottom center) was made in Showa 19 (1944) only.&nbsp; Finally a baked clay 10 sen was planned for 1945, but the war ended before it entered circulation, I believe.&nbsp; They do exist, but I&#039;m still looking for an example, and they are scarce and pricey.</p><p><br /></p><p>After the war, a 10 sen type was made for one year in Showa 21 (1946), before the denomination was abandoned as too small of value to be of use, even in the war-wrecked Japanese economy.&nbsp; There&#039;s an example of this type on the bottom right,&nbsp; also made of aluminum.&nbsp; They no longer say &quot;大日本&quot; (The Empire of Japan), but have the issuing authority given as &quot;日本政府&quot; (The Government of Japan), to reflect the new status quo of military occupation.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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