A Japanese die crack - With a Red X workaround

satootoko · March 11, 2007 1:13PM

Visited a local coin show today, and picked up several additions to my modern Japanese collection. The prize was this AU/Unc 50 sen from Meiji 3 (1870), the first year of modern milled Japanese coinage. Although my scanner hasn't picked it up, it has a nice lusterous surface and a superb strike with just a hint of tarnish, and no clear evidence of cleaning (although there are scattered hairlines on some of the fields).

If you look closely at the denomination you can see a small thin die crack extending from the left side of the 10 character (the one that looks like a plus sign) through the crossbar and over to the center horizontal line of the 5 character. The Japanese Mint's quality control, from the very beginning, is known for its excellence, and releasing coins with die cracks or errors is much less common than is occurring with the DeadPrez dollars today.

Added:Hey guys (and gals) - I've tried two different places to post the pictures, and somehow I can't get them to work correctly here.

I invite those who still can't see it to take a look at the coin over here.