Help identify.

tlhoy

A hair larger than a U.S. Nickel. Yellowish, maybe brass?
Thanks,
Glenn

spoon

Japanese 5 Yen, Y 72a. Year is 52 Showa, I believe.. if correct that'd be 1977. Worth about 20c in UNC.

..and it is brass

tbirde56

Are all the Japanese dates read right to left or did it change in a certain year?

historygeek

This one reads left to right so it's year 25.

tbirde56

I *think* 1959 (34) was the year the text direction was reversed.

spoon

y'know.. that's the same year of the coin pictured in the book too. Oh well. That makes it just plain ol' Y 72 then.

Stork

That is a Showa 25 (1950) 5 yen. It has the 'Kaisho' style lettering, which is a little prettier and less blocky than the 'Gothic' style used 1959 and on.

I believe that from 1948 and on the dates are read left to right (with one exception during 1948 on the 50 sen coin). Prior to 1948 it was right to left. When in doubt, the year character is what comes at the end of the date legend. For yours the 2 horizontal marks along the bottom are the '2', the plus sign is the '10', so that is 20. Next to the right is the '5' character, so the year is 25. The characters along the bottom to the left of the 2 represent Showa, and the last character along the bottom to the right is the year character, so the reading of this one is left to right.

My 2004 JDNA catalog prices "perfect mint state" 4000 yen, "never used, small flaws" 1500 yen, "used but nearly new" 50 yen and "circulated" 30 yen. The translations are by one of the secretaries here who has no idea about collecting coins, but was kind enough to read a bit of my catalog for me.



Cathy

sumnom

I'm glad someone finally got the date! It's 1950!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aethelred

That thing is no good, it has a hole in it!

sumnom

Send it to Lord Marcovan.

Aethelred

<< <i>Send it to Lord Marcovan. >>



Right, he wears these things! You can hear him coming a mile away, but if he ever falls in water he will sink like a rock!

satootoko

<< <i>Are all the Japanese dates read right to left or did it change in a certain year? >>

Stork is correct on all counts, including her aesthetic opinion on the calligraphy. The easy way to tell which direction to read on a Japanese coin is to remember that the regnal name is always two characters, "nen" (year) is only one, and the format is always: regnal name, year number, "nen". You can memorize the "nen" character very easily - it's the one at 4 o'clock on the pictured coin.

BTW the same character for year (not pronounced "nen" however) also appears at the end of the date on most struck Chinese coins. The numerals, except for "1" are very similar, but the part preceding the numerals is often more than two characters. Those dated to the founding of the Republic include the character pronounced "naka" in Japanese, which means inside or middle in both languages. It looks like a box with a vertical line through it, extending above and below the box itself.

sumnom

chukoko no chu?