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Japan (Meiji Era): gold Nibu-Kin (2 bu), ca. 1868-1869

Japan (Meiji Era): gold Nibu-Kin (2 bu), ca. 1868-1869

PCGS XF45, cert.#29851551. KM(C) 21d, .223 gold and .777 silver, 11 x 19 mm, 3.0 g. Ex-Clark Smith World Gold Coins, 8/20/13 (via VCoins store).

I wanted something a little different and attractive (and not too pricey), so I was considering a piece of modern NCLT, but instead chose this cute little coin. I liked that it was exotic (and rectangular- I like square and rectangular coins, for some reason). Better yet, it was gold, albeit mostly alloyed with silver. And well below a hundred bucks, which you can't say about many older gold coins these days, even small ones. And unlike a piece of modern NCLT, it's got some historical interest, since it hearkens back to the time when Japan was changing from a feudal system under the last of the shoguns and into a more modern and industrialized society.

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Original seller page
PCGS cert verification page (w/TrueView image link)
NGC/Krause priceguide trends

Wikipedia links:
Meiji Period
Ichibuban (& Nibuban- rectangular coinage)

When posted here, this coin was part of my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.

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Comments

  • STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭
    Great choice, much better in everyway than a NCLT "coin." These are interesting coins, along with the square silvers. If you're a fan of vintage Japanese films - as I am - you might even catch a glance of one these from time to time as well. Too bad you're entombing it in plastic since these are a lot of fun to handle, but to each his own. Anyway congrats on a fine pick up!

    image
    Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,934 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Very cool. And they look great in a slab.
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • mkman123mkman123 Posts: 6,849 ✭✭✭✭
    neat! I've seen many of these online, were they produced in huge numbers?
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  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yes, they must have been produced in large numbers, because they're often sold that way now.

    Here's where I got mine.

    When I bought it, a single Nibu-kin like this (one of the larger gold ones) was 80 bucks, less when bought in bulk. (Though as of this posting, they've since gone up to 85 for a single.)

    The tinier gold Nishu-kin are even less expensive.

    And then for even less, they've got those rectangular silvers, which I've also always thought were cool, too.

    So, yeah, fairly common, and "cheap", as gold coins go, but these prices are about as good (or better) than any others I've seen online. Slabbed, people often ask into the mid- to high $100s for a Nibu-kin like this.

    Common or not, I think they're just neat little things, and like I said, probably better than just buying a piece of modern NCLT to get a little bullion and something "different", right?

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  • StorkStork Posts: 5,205 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Cool!

  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    LordM,

    I have seen and contemplated buying one of these for a long time myself. I have always decided against it because I have no real place for one in my extant collections. They are very cool looking and I can't think of another coin that would be more symbolic of Japan than one of these. Nice pick up.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I have always decided against it because I have no real place for one in my extant collections. >>

    This is exactly the sentiment that has tripped me up on so many things before, and even caused me to part with some lovely pieces I never should have. It is also the primary reason I find my latest "eclectic box of twenty" approach liberating. I'm now free to explore some of those side trails I've found interesting in the past, at least a little bit.

    Edited to add: this is not to suggest that focus is a bad thing, and that everybody should throw their set structure out the window like have and go purely "eclectic". Far from it- it's definitely not for everyone. There is something to be said for organization and discipline in building a collection. But I've just been enjoying my latest "freestyle" pursuits, is all I mean.

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  • shirohniichanshirohniichan Posts: 4,992 ✭✭✭
    Nice piece! I'm working on an article for Numismatist about the dreaded nibu-kin. You may be interested to learn how much trouble they caused the Imperial government once the Shogunate collapsed, the unexpected way the new government converted them to modern yen coinage, and some other things.

    I ran a word search here to see if anyone had posted anything about contemporary counterfeit nibu coins (as I'd like to get one for my research), but I'm glad to discover you got one.
    image
    Obscurum per obscurius
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Shiroh-san, I no longer get The Numismatist, but I definitely would like to read your article, when it is done.

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  • interesting little piece

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  • shirohniichanshirohniichan Posts: 4,992 ✭✭✭
    A contemporary California newspaper described them as "60c coins".

    An 1872 article said this regarding their value:

    "The value of the Niboo is $5 70 per ounce, of which $1 is silver and $4 70 gold."

    When a number of counterfeits showed up in transactions with foreigners, there was quite a hubbub. The Meiji government was between a rock and a hard place in trying to settle with foreign claimants and paying off their huge civil war debt (I guess we can call this a "war between the provinces" so as not to offend southerners here).
    image
    Obscurum per obscurius
  • JohnnyCacheJohnnyCache Posts: 1,663 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Congratulations LordM, it will make a very nice addition to your freestyle collection, those gold and silver pieces have long caught my eye as well.
    .


    JC
  • 1509eric1509eric Posts: 43 ✭✭
    nice coins!

    I found them some month ago too and thought they nice.

    :-)
    collector from Germany
  • mercurydimeguymercurydimeguy Posts: 4,625 ✭✭✭✭
    Hey, just saw this thread.... bought one raw, will submit to PCGS. Hard to come by in PCGS holders. Working on an 1869 Global set of coins (starting with 1 from each country).

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  • sumnomsumnom Posts: 5,963 ✭✭✭
    Very nice!
  • PokermandudePokermandude Posts: 2,709 ✭✭✭


    << <i>L I have always decided against it because I have no real place for one in my extant collections. >>



    It all depends on your collecting mentality image I have silver one of this type and it fits nicely with my random/misc non-coin money such as my Olbia dolphin, Celtic proto-money, 18th century Thai silver bullet/canoe money/tiger tongue/tamlung among others!
    http://stores.ebay.ca/Mattscoin - Canadian coins, World Coins, Silver, Gold, Coin lots, Modern Mint Products & Collections
  • OldEastsideOldEastside Posts: 4,602 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Those are no neato ')

    Steve
    Promote the Hobby
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hey, mercurydimeguy- yours looks pretty close to mine, gradewise, I'd say. Of course I'd have no real idea how to grade one of them with any degree of accuracy, myself.

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  • ashelandasheland Posts: 22,612 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Cool piece indeed! That's an interesting allow of mostly silver and some gold.
    Really cool! image
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