Hello Silver & Gold stackers! Another week and I have another Japanese coin for you!

This time we'll be looking at another 10 sen, but a different version of the coin. If you missed my previous 10 sen post, go check it out if you have time but otherwise I'll include some comparisons in this post.

Let's first do 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:

• 2.7 g
• 17.6 mm diameter
• 1.2 mm thickness
• edge: reeded

and most importantly, it's 80% silver, so that means about 2.16 grams of silver. I guess since we are talking about silver, I should start converting that to troy ounces? That's a conversion I've never done before so I have no idea... but ChatGPT tells me 2.16 g is 0.0695 troy ounces.

Let's look at the coin a little more.

Front Side - Dragon

In the middle we have a stunning dragon. Is it just me, or is he holding a dragonball? (dragons are usually males in East Asian myth, whereas phoenixes are usually females). Around the dragon is a ring of beads or circles or something.

At the bottom in Roman letters is "10 sen", then around the rest of the coin reads meiji sanjūhachi nen (明治三十八年), "Meiji year 38" which is the Japanese way of writing 1905, and dai nippon (大日本), "Great Japan".

Back Side - Laurel Wreath

Not quite as gunky as the other side, but there is that nasty looking greenish patch. eww. But no worse than normal pocket change, I suppose.

Anyway, this side should look familiar if you've been following along with me on this coin adventure. It's the same laurel wreath that we've seen on many of these other Japanese coins.

The left branch is paulownia and the right branch chrysanthemum. The crest at the top is a chrysanthemum flower, which has long been the crest of the imperial family. Below the crest is written "10 sen" (十銭).

About

This was the second design used for the 10 sen. It was used from 1873 to 1906. The next design is the one I featured here.

Here are the two 10 sen coins I have next to each other. Well, one is much dirtier than the other, but aside from that the laurel wreath side is the same.

The other side goes from dragon to radiant sun. Which one do you prefer?

Hmm...looking at them closely, I think the clean one is, well, clean because someone cleaned it. Lots of scratches on it, many more than the dirty one. Oh well, I am not the kind of collector who cares about getting it in mint condition, I just like having the bit of history (and the bit of silver!) so either is fine.

Anyway, the size is the same, but the dragon one has 80% silver and the radiant sun one has 72%. The dragon one also weighs more. Extra weight and extra silver content mean the dragon one has about .6 grams more silver than the other. Every little bit helps, eh?

Here it is compared to a dime. I suppose a Mercury dime would be a better comparison since we're talking silver, but I don't have any of those. But anyway, it's the same size as a dime, as you can see.

Overall

I love the dragon design. They used this same design on most of the sen coins at one point and also on the 1 yen coin. It's yet another design that hasn't been seen on any coins in a long time and one I would love to see making a comeback. I don't think it's been featured on any commemorative coins in the years since, which is unfortunate.

❦

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.