Some tougher Japanese coins

[gxseries]

Quite certain that these don't appear very often.

First up is a square looking coin from Sendai Prefecture. Cast in iron - has an interesting cud at the bottom. Not rare or any sort but thought the cud makes it different.



Next up is an interesting silver "coin" from Akita Prefecture, made around 1863. It's a hammered silver "plate" - thinly beaten and marked as 4 monme 6 bu. This coin did not last long as in 1870, uniform coinage appeared through the nation and in 1871, the yen is declared as the national currency. I'm certain a lot were melted down.



Lastly is a gold coin - never had a gold coin from Japan and found this in a reasonable price. Struck in 1871 - it's a really tiny coin.



Guess that's all for now - something different for a change?

[translateltd]

A couple from me: a wooden 100-mon from Shimada, and an Eiraku sen in silver.

[Figleaf]

Spectacular, gentlemen.

Peter

[Afrasi]

Great stuff! I have only the Sendai token in my collection ... 

[translateltd]

I have the Sendai one too, though no heavy cud on mine!  I lived in Japan briefly in the mid-1980s and picked up a few unusual items at the time - next time I'm anywhere near the collection I'll see if there's anything else I can add to the thread.

[translateltd]

This is an unusual one - Hoei Tsuho, 10 mon, 1708.  I sold it earlier this year so have the photos on the computer still.  Only the second one I've seen in 25 years.

Brass, 37mm.  One of the more unusual coins in the Japanese series.  It was an experiment with larger-denomination coins but was not successful as it was quickly discovered that you only needed to melt a couple of standard coins to get enough metal to copy one of these and make a quick profit, so the issue was discontinued after a year.

The "counterstamped" character at 7:00 on the reverse is original - all have this somewhere on the rim.