One highlight of a disappointing day at Long Beach
satootoko
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There was much less non-gold world coinage at Long Beach than any previous visit I have made. Only half a dozen dealers even had books or boxes of world silver/base metal, and only three had significant amounts of Japanese material. Apparently the dealers-only day on Wednesday was very busy, with many slabbed coins reportedly changing hands several times. There was also more dealer buying activitiy, in the form of "I'm Buying" signs, than I remember from other shows, but from what I could see, the show could well have been renamed the Long Beach Morgan Show.
Some of the dealers were really uptight about their world coin prices - one of them wouldn't give me a break on an overgraded coin even though I was buying four others at his asking price.
I did pick up up a couple of hard to find minors at reasonable prices, but the only real "buy" of the day was this one, for less than the F value in Krause:
It's considerably better than my photo skills could capture, with a hint of luster in the fields, and no signs of having been cleaned. This Meiji 25 (1882) dragon yen, was counterstamped "GIN" (Silver) at the main Osaka Mint in 1897, in connection with the internal demonetization of Trade Dollars and ¥1 silver coins. About 20 million were shipped to Korea, Taiwan and Southern Manchuria for use in international trade. The countermark was intended to prevent the coins from being returned to Japan and exchanged for gold, due to a shift in the relative values of gold and silver. A few years later, the minting of silver ¥1 coins (but not Trade Dollars) resumed through the remainder of the Meiji era. In Taisho 3 (1914) the final silver yen was minted, but it wasn't until Showa 23 (1948) that brass yen were produced. Notes had been used for the denomination in the interim.
Some of the dealers were really uptight about their world coin prices - one of them wouldn't give me a break on an overgraded coin even though I was buying four others at his asking price.
I did pick up up a couple of hard to find minors at reasonable prices, but the only real "buy" of the day was this one, for less than the F value in Krause:
It's considerably better than my photo skills could capture, with a hint of luster in the fields, and no signs of having been cleaned. This Meiji 25 (1882) dragon yen, was counterstamped "GIN" (Silver) at the main Osaka Mint in 1897, in connection with the internal demonetization of Trade Dollars and ¥1 silver coins. About 20 million were shipped to Korea, Taiwan and Southern Manchuria for use in international trade. The countermark was intended to prevent the coins from being returned to Japan and exchanged for gold, due to a shift in the relative values of gold and silver. A few years later, the minting of silver ¥1 coins (but not Trade Dollars) resumed through the remainder of the Meiji era. In Taisho 3 (1914) the final silver yen was minted, but it wasn't until Showa 23 (1948) that brass yen were produced. Notes had been used for the denomination in the interim.
Roy
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Come on over ... to The Dark Side!
Does anyone have any references to period Japanese government documents that verifies the position of the "gin" countermark has anything to do with where it was countermarked? I've read the same thing in Krause (i.e. that left countermarks were punched at Osaka and right countrmarks at Tokyo), but I've read elsewhere that that claim was simply conjecture of unknown origin.
Obscurum per obscurius
<< <i>Does anyone have any references to period Japanese government documents that verifies the position of the "gin" countermark has anything to do with where it was countermarked? I've read the same thing in Krause (i.e. that left countermarks were punched at Osaka and right countrmarks at Tokyo), but I've read elsewhere that that claim was simply conjecture of unknown origin. >>
A very interesting point Shiroh - uban legend or fact
It's one on which two of the three primary English language authorities support the claim, and the third is silent; while the only Japanese language authority in my library is also silent.
The JNDA Catalog has a fairly complete discussion of the gold/silver value issues that led to the internal demonetization, but does not mention anything about why some "Gin" marks are at the left, and some at the right.
Jacobs & Vermuele ("Japanese Coinage") don't even mention where the counterstamping was done, but do give a chart indicating that left stamps appear on coins of only 10 certain years from Meiji 3-29, right stamps appear on coins of only 7 of those years, and stamps appear on both sides of an unspecified number of Meiji 24 (1881) coins.
Cummings ("Modern Japanese Coinage"), on the other hand, agrees with Krause about 18,350,000 coins being stamped on the left at Osaka, and 2,100,000 being stamped on the right at Tokyo, with coins from all 27 years having each stamp. He also points out that the Bank of Japan collection has one Meiji 24 with double stamps, believed to have been a mint employee error, and states: "This is the only reported instance of a double gin mark." No mention of that coin is made in the JNDA catalog.
If you'd like, I'll PM a couple of Japanese language references from Cummings' bibliography.