Okinawa - 100 Mon

Moneta — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:48:00 -0400

by: Moneta

Description: This is a really nice example of this scarce coin. It's from the inflationary period of large coinage. The Taiping Rebellion in China appears to have had an effect throughout Asia. Inset into the image is an edge photo of the symbol punched into the edge (SA = Satsuma). The rim bumps are where the edge punches are, this coin has two punches, one on each long edge. I have seen fakes (very poor) of these and the edge stamp is missing. The 1/2 Shu piece has a very similar stamp. The 100 mon Ryuukyuu Tsuuhou pictured was first manufactured in Kagoshima (Satsuma domain) 1863 for circulation within the Ryuukyuus and in Satsuma domain itself. Like the Tenpou Tsuuhou upon which it was modeled, its face value was 100 mon but its weight was merely 6 to 7 times that of a 1 mon coin. Furthermore, even though the face value was 100 mon the Satsuma government ordered that it circulate at the value of 124 mon (go figure!). This made it a profitable coin to manufacture, but was not well received in circulation. From Luke Robert's "East Asian Cash" website. 49.6 x 33.2 mm, 19 gm. Copper 100 Mon is without date but cast in 1862 - 1863. KM# is C# 100 (Craig). This is a much better coin than the one in KM.

Ryukyu Islands - Okinawa

Moneta — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 18:30:37 -0500

by: Moneta

Description: Hanshu Ryuukyuu Tsuuhou - obverse is written Ryuukyuu Tsuuhou in seal script; reverse reads "han shu" in seal script. These are relatively scarce. The edge has a character stamped, a bit off center, that can best be described as a cross w/double cross hatch (contact me for photo). Obtained from J. Lepzck (late 70's) so it's authentic. Be sure to see the exceptional associated 100 Mon piece. The round Hanshuu Ryuukyuu Tsuuhou was ordered to circulate at the value of 248 mon, or twice the value of the 100 mon coin. However it weighed merely 8 monme or about 10 to 12 times the weight of the average one mon coin. Han means "half" and "shu" is a gold currency weight. Therefore the Satsuma government was trying to command an exchange rate between copper currency and gold currency. Normally the relative exhange rates of silver, gold and copper currencies were unstable throughout Japan despite government attempts to decree them into one currency system. Thus although at one half shu this coin should have circulated at 32 coins per gold ryou (one koban coin), it is unlikely that it really did so. source: Nihon Ginkou Chousakyoku ed., Zuroku Nihon no kahei, vol. 4 (Tokyo: Touyou Keizai Shinpousha, 1973), pp. 319-322. From Luke Robert's "East Asian Cash" website.

Moneta's Temple and Gallery

Okinawa - 100 Mon

Ryukyu Islands - Okinawa