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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Sallent, post: 2775725, member: 76194&quot;]The good thing about getting into &quot;chinese washers&quot;, is that soon you discover the Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese, and others made washers too.</p><p><br /></p><p>Japan is an interesting land, and proof that we can&#039;t treat the rest of the world by the definitions of &quot;ancient&quot; and &quot;medieval&quot; that apply to Europe. While Europeans were in the midst of the industrial revolution, Japan continued to dwell in medieval times thanks to a strict issolationist policy. You can&#039;t look at Japanese cast coins from the early 19th century and say &quot;Industrial or modern era&quot; because it simply wasn&#039;t. These coins, like the society around them, are a product of medieval craftsmanship in an isolated feudal world.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first of my Japanese goodies:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]641099[/ATTACH] Japan</p><p>Edo Period (Ca. 1769-1788 CE)</p><p>AE 4-mon 28mm, 4.37g</p><p>Tokyo Mint</p><p>O: Kuan Ei Tsu Ho</p><p>R: 11 waves pattern</p><p>Hartill Japan # 4.253</p><p><br /></p><p>This isn&#039;t your standard Chinese washer &quot;type&quot; reverse, with a simple dot or dash. This Japanese beauty has an intricate wave pattern on the reverse, as well as a very brazy appearance being from an earlier issue, before they were debased.</p><p><br /></p><p>Second:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]641103[/ATTACH]</p><p>Japan</p><p>Edo Period (1835-1870)</p><p>AE 100-mon&nbsp; 49.5mmx32.5mm, 21.9g</p><p>Musashi Province</p><p>O: Ten Po-Tsu Ho</p><p>R: Hyacku</p><p>Hartill Japan # 5.7</p><p><br /></p><p>Boy, this coin ticks a lot of boxes:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Fan of odd shaped coins? Check</p><p>2. Fan of large coins? Check</p><p>3. Fan of heavy coins? Check</p><p><br /></p><p>Apparently these large babies were made in many different provinces. I have one here from Musashi province, but it may be fun to track down a few from other provinces eventually. These range from the time just before Japan was reintroduced to the world, to the time when Japan got a rude awakening and began to open itself up to the modern world. They mark the end of feudal Japan, when the Samurai and medieval technology was still around, but was about fade forever to give way for the modern world.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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