Japan 1871 (M4) 50 sen
The first specimen was lot 1030 in Stephen Album sale 27 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2017), where it sold for $470. The catalog description[1] noted, "JAPAN: Meiji, 1867-1912, AR 50 sen, year 4. rare type, 21mm circle of dots around the dragon, second to left flame crosses a spine, 2 full spines show above the right flame, PCGS graded EF40, R." The second specimen was lot 3050 in Stephen Album sale 38 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2020), where it sold for $154.70. The catalog description[2] noted, "JAPAN: Meiji, 1868-1912, AR 50 sen, year 4 (1871), variety with 19mm circle of dots around dragon, Unc." Milled coinage was introduced to Japan in 1870; denominations included the five, ten, twenty, fifty sen and one, two, five, ten and twenty yen. This first design, shown here, had the dragon on the obverse surrounded by Chinese characters. The design was revised in 1873 to add the denomination in Latin lettering while the denomination written in Chinese numerals was moved to the reverse. The bronze rin, half sen and one sen were added in 1873. Several varieties exist for 1871 (Y4, Y4a.1 and Y4a.2) of which Y4a.2 is the rarest.
Recorded mintage: 2,648,309 (all varieties).
Specification: 12.5 g, 0.800 fine silver, 31.5 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: the first specimen: KM-Y-4a.2; the second specimen: KM Y4a.1, JNDA-01-13A.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- The Catalog of Japanese Coins and Banknotes, Tokyo: JNDA (Japanese Numismatic Dealers Assn.), 2014.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 27, featuring the Dr. Paul Stevens Collection of Indian Coins, Part VI, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2016.
- [2]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 38, featuring the Dabestani Collection of Persian Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2020.
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