I've got a silver 5 Sen, tests .800 silver and copper. The type looks exactly like Y-6 , however, Y-6 was only struck dated year 4 (1871) and this coin is dated year 10 (1877) which should be Y-22. Measures 15.66mm and 1.19g, which is not exactly Y-6 (16.2mm 1.25g) or Y-22 (15.15mm 1.35g). The die characteristics do not look like other dies I've seen of examples of Y-6. There is a centering dot in the middle of the sun, which I have not seen on other examples of the early or late variety of Y-6. The rays look closer to the 66-rays late variety although not exactly as it's a different die. Both faces have inner rings of dots and clear dentils. I can't find a reference for Y-6 with a date of year 10. It's clear from the tag that the previous owner had trouble identifying it as well, as different references are written and crossed off. This is from a recently purchased Japanese collection that had many high grade Meiji coins including many harder to find types. It looks like the collection hadn't been touched in a very long time, and the newest coins (uncs) were from 1949. Does anyone have an idea what this coin is?
Hopefully someone comes along that might know. I have bought a couple of these thru the years but have no idea how to read or identify them.
