I was wondering if anyone could identify this old coin. It looks like it could be silver but I am not sure. It is about 4 1\2 inches long. Any help would be appreciated.
Well, it's pre-Meiji Japanese, and says that it's silver, with a value of 10 ryo; but the character at the far left of your fourth picture just isn't clear enough to see all the pen strokes, and make out exactly what it is. The legend in your first picture, and the right side of your fourth picture is the one that gives the material and value. As part of the Meiji Reformation, the old currency system of Oban, Ryo, Shu, Bu, Mon, etc., was scrapped and the new decimal values of Yen, Sen and Rin were adopted. The original definition of the yen was the amount of gold or silver previously valued at 1 Ryo, so this coin would have converted to the new currency as ¥10, which was roughly the equivalent of US$10 in 1867 and for quite a few years thereafter. The legend on the left side of your fourth picture is basically the date, but my Beautiful Bride is having difficulty reading it. Her first take was "Kaitoku nen seizoo", which would mean "Made in the Kaitoku era". The problem is, there was no such era, and the possible alternative "Kantoku" (1044-46) won't work because Japanese nengo (era names) containing the syllable "kan" are written with a completely different character. About all that can be said for certain is that if genuine, it Is in fact silver Was issued significantly prior to the start of the Tokugawa period at the dawn of the 17th Century, and It's in remarkable condition for its age. Value? If you can post a higher resolution picture of the top half of the segment on the left of photo #4, showing all the fine lines, perhaps the BB will be able to figure out the correct era name, which would pinpoint it to a relatively short span of years. BTW the only reason I raise a question of genuineness is the apparently anamolous date, and the total absence of anything remotely similar in either the JNDA Catalog section on pre-Meiji money, or any of my other references, including the copiously illustrated 1904 Coins of Japan by Munro, of which I was recently able to add a copy of the 1962 reprint to my library.
Hello, Thanks for the info so far. I went to the safty deposit box before the bank closed and got a picture of the area you were talking about. I hope it helps. I am pretty excited about the coins we ahve because I have a few more of them that are similar. Thanks again, Ben
