Japan Meiji Silver Dollar.
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| Yen, Year 11 [1878]. Dragon in beaded circle. |
Trade Dollar coin was issued in 1875 (the 8th year of Meiji period). This silver coin was issued for foreign trade (like Trade Dollar of USA). Coin was mined in silver of 900 fineness and has weight 27.22 g (some more than silver Yen coin in that time - 26.96 gr.) These coins were issued during 3 years (from 1875 to 1877). Some coins have Japanese "Gin" countermark ("Silver" in English). All these coins are RARE and very hard to find in high grade.
This is a 8
th year of Meiji period silver dollar with heavily chopped marks (countermarks) on the obverse.
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8th year of Meiji Silver Dollar.Reverse.
(Yong Ah Lee Collection) |
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8th year of Meiji Silver Dollar.Obverse.
(Yong Ah Lee Collection) |
If you look at the obverse of this 8th year of Meiji period silver dollar , you will be able to see quite clearly the Chinese charator "8" at 7 o'clock position.
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| Chinese charator "8" |
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ReplyDeleteHi Dickson,
ReplyDeleteApologise for the two deleted comments earlier because we have mistaken the images to be incused instead of raised thus thought it was a brokerage.
Haha, our eyes might be playing tricks on us but sometimes, its quite difficult to differentiate between incused and raised just by looking at photos in the computer.
This specimen will be wonderful without the abundant countermarks.
Its an interesting specimen indeed esp when it is a key date.
By the way, the silver dollars with the gin mark existed in two versions.
The gin mark on the left shows the coin was countermarked by the Osaka mint while the gin mark on the right was done by the Tokyo mint.
Japan demonetized the silver one Yen and Trade Dollar coins in 1897.
Many were melted to provide bullion to produce subsidiary coins.
But about 20 million One Yen and Trade Dollar coins were countermarked with the chinese character gin and shipped to Taiwan, Korea and Southern Manchuria for their localised circulations respectively.
The countermark by Tokyo mint is much rarer than the gin mark by Osaka mint, ie. 2.1 million and 18.35 million respectively.
Yes, you are right, Dickson.
They are not easy to come by nowadays.
We are still searching for one with a countermark by the Tokyo mint.
But beware, there are many fakes with these countermarks floating in the market, nowadays.
Thanks a lot for sharing, Dickson and Mr Yong :)
Thank you for sharing your infos on the rarity of the countermarks.I will try to persuade Mr.Young to send his this Meiji-8 yrs silver dollar for encapsulation.If it can be graded,it will be great!
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