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

I've previewed this coin a few times, but I haven't done a post specifically about it yet, so let's do that now.

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: 5.39 g
• Diameter: 22.85 mm
• Edge: reeded

and most importantly, it's 80% silver, so that means about 4.3 grams of silver. Woohoo silver!

Let's look at the coin a little more.

Front Side

This is the dragon that we have now seen many times. It would vanish for the next version of the coin.

Below him in Latin script is 20 SEN. This was in Japanese script in the prior version of the coin. I suppose they changed it to make the coin more accessible to foreigners.

The rest of the text you see is the date: 明治２０, meiji 20, the Japanese way of writing 1887. The other text is 大日本, dai nippon, "Great Japan".

Back Side

This side features the same wreath we've seen many times on these coins. The left arm is a paulownia flower and the right is a Chrysanthemum flower, both important in Japanese culture. At the top is the Chrysanthemum crest of the Imperial family.

About

After Japan opened to the West and before the hyperinflation due to WWII rendered it obsolete, the yen was divided into 100 sen. At the time 1 yen was equal to one dollar, making this 20 sen coin roughly equal to 20 US cents. And now the silver within it is equal to roughly $3. Isn't inflation fun?

I don't know if this was a common thing with coins, but instead of reducing the silver percentage of this coin over the years to keep up with the aforementioned inflation, Japan instead shrunk the coin with every version. The first version, which I don't have (because it's crazy expensive) was 24mm in diameter. For the second version (the one featured in this post) the diameter was shrunk to 22.85. Then for the third (and final) version of this coin, the diameter was shrunk further to 20.3 mm. The silver content of all three was 80%, but the coin shrunk.

Overall

All in all, a lovely coin. Shame my copy is so dirty, but can't be helped. All the dragon sen and yen coins go for a ton from collectors, this one included. I don't see fair copies for much below ¥3000 usually (around $20) and often higher. That in mind, I'm glad to have found a cheaper, if dirtier, copy.

❦

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.