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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Eidolon, post: 4391401, member: 102103&quot;]Part 11:&nbsp; 1 sen</p><p>From top L:&nbsp; Meiji 15, &quot;V&quot; scales (1882), Meiji 9, Square scales (1876), Taisho 11 (1922), Showa 6 (1931), Showa 15 (1940), Showa 16 (1941), Showa 20 (1945)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1105032[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1105033[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The 1 sen is another series which starkly shows the trend of inflation, debasement and wartime shortages.&nbsp; It started in the Meiji era as a sizable copper coin, about a quarter ounce.&nbsp; The older type (top center) has rectangular scales, and was made from Meiji 6-10 (1873-1877).&nbsp; A second version was made from Meiji 13-21 (1880-1888), shown top left.&nbsp; Both indicate their value with an inscription on the top:&nbsp; &quot;百枚　換一圓&quot; (100 pieces exchanges for 1 yen).&nbsp; I&#039;m missing the large bronze radiant sun version of late Meiji and early Taisho.</p><p><br /></p><p>The next two have a nice paulownia flower seal on one side and &quot;一錢&quot; (One Sen) on the other.&nbsp; I&#039;m treating the side with the date in all cases as the obverse for consistency.&nbsp; Not all sources agree on head or tails designation for Japanese coins, which often have the denomination on both sides and no portrait on either.&nbsp; Sen is an obsolete character, by the way.&nbsp; In modern Japanese it is &quot;銭&quot;.&nbsp; In modern Chinese it is the generic term for money (qian2) and has a different simplification:&nbsp; 钱.&nbsp; Both Chinese and Japanese underwent character simplification after World War II, but the Chinese was more drastic and affected a greater fraction of characters.</p><p><br /></p><p>By 1938, the coin was changed to aluminum, with a larger pattern version (not shown) and then a smaller 18 mm circulation version (bottom, 2nd from L).&nbsp; Japan was already at war by 1938.&nbsp; There was no sharp dividing line between an expansionistic &quot;peace&quot; and overt war for Japan in China.&nbsp; Japan had invaded Manchuria in 1931, and was openly operating in the rest of China by the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937.</p><p><br /></p><p>A smaller aluminum coin with Mount Fuji on the reverse (bottom 3rd from L) was made from Showa 16-18 (1941-1943).&nbsp; I think these are quite pretty for a debased wartime issue, but being made of aluminum they don&#039;t tend to hold up well.&nbsp; The tin-zinc 1 sen shown bottom R was minted Showa 19-20 (1944-1945).&nbsp; A baked clay version was issued a few days before the end of the war.&nbsp; Supposedly, these are the easiest to find of the baked clay 1, 5 and 10 sen series, but I&#039;ve still never seen one in person.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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