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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Eidolon, post: 4387729, member: 102103&quot;]Part 11:&nbsp; 2 sen</p><p>Meiji year 15 (1882), &quot;V-shaped&quot; scales variety[ATTACH=full]1104720[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]1104721[/ATTACH] </p><p>The 2 sen is probably my favorite Meiji Era coin.&nbsp; It&#039;s a nice big copper, substantially bigger than a modern 500 yen, with about half an ounce of metal.&nbsp; There are two similar varieties.&nbsp; The earlier one has horizontal lines dividing the &quot;square-shaped&quot; scales, and was made from Meiji 6-10 (1873-1877).&nbsp; This one has pairs of V-shapes dividing the scales, and is of the type from Meiji 10-17 (1877-1884).&nbsp; The entire mintage of the denomination only lasted from 1873-1884, though a Meiji 25th year of reign issue was planned but never released to circulation.&nbsp; All dates are probably worth at least a couple dollars even in worn condition, so if I ever see one in a junk bin, I always pick it up.</p><p><br /></p><p>The yen as a unit of currency was only introduced in 1871, so the currency itself was fairly new when these coins were minted.&nbsp; The inscription on top reads (right-to-left, as was traditional for Japanese in older horizontal writing): &quot;五十枚　換一圓&quot; (50 pieces exchanges for 1 yen).&nbsp; The dragon is a symbol for the Emperor, borrowed from Chinese tradition.&nbsp; The chrysanthemum and paulownia wreath on the reverse are from the Imperial coat of arms.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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