Hello Silver & Gold stackers! Yet again, we venture into the world of Japanese coinage. This time, we're dialing the clock back to the dawn of Japan's modern era—the Meiji period. We're discussing a 50 sen coin from Meiji 3, dating back to 1870. It's not as petite as the Kaei Isshugin or as big as the 1 yen coin, but this half-yen piece carries a wealth of history.

I'll give some basic coin stats, then we'll look at both sides, and then I'll give some more general info!

Sound fun? Let's go!

Stats

Some basic coin stats for you:

• Weight: 12.5 g
• Diameter: 31.51 mm
• Thickness: 1.9 mm
• Edge: reeded

Most importantly, it's 80% silver, so that means about 10.0 grams of silver, giving it a melt value of about $7 and a half.

Let's flip it over and see what it has to offer.

Front Side

A very attractive dragon design on the front. This was a common design that most of the coins of the era featured at one time. If you've been keeping up with my coin posts, you've seen it on both a 10 sen coin and a 1 yen coin. The dragon symbolizes strength and good fortune, a fitting motif for the rapidly modernizing nation.

To the right of the dragon is written dai nippon (大日本), "Great Japan". Under and slightly to the right is gojū sen (五十銭), "50 sen". To the top is meiji san nen (明治三年), "Meiji year 3", or 1870 on the Gregorian calendar.

Worth noting that my transcriptions are backwards to what you see on the coin. At the time of this coin Japanese was written right to left when displayed horizontally. These days when using horizontal writing they almost always use the same left to right as we do in English.

Here are all the dragons of the coins I have together as a family.

Back Side

On the back we have a similar laurel wreath/sun/chrysanthemum design to some of the previous Japanese coins I've shown, but a bit different. Let's step through the design.

In the center is a radiant sun surrounded by a ring. The wreath takes up a little more than half the coin, the bottom and left and right sides. At the top we have the chrysanthemum crest of the imperial family. New to this design (compared to the previous wreath designs we've seen), we also have two three-leaf paulownia crests flanking the chrysanthemum crest.

All the various wreaths I have on my Japanese coins:

About

It's roughly the size of a US half-dollar. I don't have any half-dollars with me. Hmm... something to order? At any rate, here it is compared to that silver 1 yen coin we saw before (which is the same size as a Morgan dollar).

And also compared to the later version of the 50 sen, which I've covered before. Every new version of the coin shrunk the size, probably to combat the increasing value of silver.

This coin was minted in the early years of the Meiji era (1868-1912), the period when Japan rapidly transformed from a feudal society into a modern industrial state. During the Meiji era, the old Edo period currency system (briefly talked about here, with my Kaei 1 silver shu post) was abolished and replaced by the decimal system, with 1 yen as the basis unit which could be subdivided into 100 sen. This 50 sen was, therefore, worth half a yen.

In 1870, this coin would have been a substantial amount of money, capable of buying you several days' worth of meals.

Overall

Because this coin is from right at the beginning of the Meiji era, it is highly sought by collectors. One of these in good condition can go for hundreds of dollars. I only paid ¥1200 for it (around $12) which is the lowest I've ever seen the coin offered. If you can find it for that price, go for it, otherwise you may want to skip it and go after cheaper junk silver unless you are like me and interested in the historic aspect of the coin.

Here is the Numista page for the coin

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.