Picked Up A Nice Japanese Yen

[TomB]

This is the first Japanese yen I have owned, even though I like them very much, and it likely is alone in my collection because most of the others I have seen are harshly cleaned. This coin is original and was quite reasonable in price, in my inexperienced opinion. Enjoy!

[JamminJ]

That one does have a rather pleasing look. I've encountered similar circumstances, most of the circulated yens are scrubbed nice and white.

 

Branching your collection out a bit or just a single that caught your eye?

[gmarguli]

That does have a pleasing look. Oddly, I see more of these in XF-MS than well circulated like yours. In fact, I very rarely see them as circulated as yours. I like it.

[TomB]

Thanks guys. I'm not really branching out, I just like to pick up nice, original pieces from time to time. Most of my non-US coinage is early Mexican, but I had been looking for a Japanese yen like this for quite a bit.

[shirohniichan]

That does have a pleasing look. Oddly, I see more of these in XF-MS than well circulated like yours. In fact, I very rarely see them as circulated as yours. I like it.

 

Yea, verily. The ones I have come across that appear to have circulated well had chopmarks on them. Once they were demonetized in 1895, many were countermarked and sent to Taiwan and other ares under Japanese influence. Since banks no longer kept them as hard money reserves they circulated more than they had before.

 

Yours is neither countermarked nor chopped, yet it shows years of wear. Was it a pocket piece, perhaps?

[JamminJ]

Once they were demonetized in 1895 ...

 

Why did Japan demonetize these coins?

[satootoko]

Why did Japan demonetize these coins?

It occurred during the shifts back and forth between the gold standard and the silver standard in the late 18th Century. Murky as it is, this Bank of Japan webpage is about as clear an answer as you'll find. Jacobs (Japanese Coinage) hardly mentions it, and Cummings (Modern Japanese Coinage) isn't any clearer.

 

Basically they limited silver to international trade for a while, then changed their minds.

[TomB]

Thanks for the link, I had never heard about the demonitization before and will have to read up on this.

[shirohniichan]

A similar situation occurred when Germany went off the silver standard in the 1870's. Since talers and other silver coins only had limited legal-tender status (perhaps up to 5 new Reichsmarks), Germany dumped its silver bank reserves as bullion. This, coupled with booming silver production from the Comstock Lode and other sources, led to a huge drop in silver prices. Silver interests hoped the Bland Allison Act would support falling silver prices, but even coining millions of US silver dollars couldn't do the job.

 

The last ones to leave the silver standard were left holding the bag.