Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Eidolon, post: 7645274, member: 102103&quot;]I don&#039;t think the 50 yen denomination was ever made out of precious metals.&nbsp; The Meiji/Early Taisho gold coinage was made in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 yen.&nbsp; After WW2, the yen had depreciated enough that larger base-metal denominations were needed.&nbsp; The 50 yen started in Showa 30 (1955).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The <a href="https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces7313.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces7313.html" rel="nofollow">first series</a> lasted 4 years and had no center hole.&nbsp; I have Showa 32 (1957) and 31 (1956) out of the Showa 30-33 set.&nbsp; There is a <a href="https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3623.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3623.html" rel="nofollow">second type</a> which I don&#039;t have at all from Showa 34-41 (1959-1966).&nbsp; It adds the now-standard center hole, but kept the size at 25 mm as opposed to the <a href="https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1026.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1026.html" rel="nofollow">modern</a> 21 mm holed 50 yen (right).&nbsp; The weight dropped from 5.5 to 5.0 grams between the first and second type, so I guess a hole weighs -0.5 grams.</p><p><br /></p><p>In general, coins in denominations with 5 (5, 50) as the leading digit have holes, and the ones with a leading digit of 1 (1, 10, 100) are unholed.&nbsp; This makes them easier to distinguish by feel for the vision-impaired.&nbsp; The 500 yen is an exception, though, and never had a hole.</p><p><br /></p><p>50 yen coins don&#039;t turn up in junk bins often because they are worth 40-50 cents face, depending on the prevailing exchange rates.&nbsp; Naturally, if I do see one for 10 or 25 cents US, I pick it out, but that happens rarely.&nbsp; If I want to complete the set for these it looks like I&#039;ll have to actually make an effort and look for coins individually by date.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1314561[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1314562[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in