With apologies to the Forum for English only:
In 1897, Japan took another big step in the modernization of its coinage that it had begun over a quarter of a century earlier with “The Coinage Act of 1871 (Meiji 4).” Using the enormous sum of money wrung from China as a result of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5, Japan’s “Yen” was redefined and returned to a gold standard by “The Coinage Act of 1897 (Meiji 30).”
Gold coins were immediately affected, of course, and so were the base-metal coins. Meiji 30 (1897) saw new copper and copper-nickel coin types, although of fewer denominations. And they were different design types only—the diameters and weights remained identical to their pre-1897 counterparts.
I wish I knew exactly what went into the design change. Perhaps someone better acquainted with the literature, or with more insight into the subject generally, might educate us? But for now, for me, my guess comprises of about equal parts of: 1) greater national self-confidence, 2) a desire to shed the old—as in the dragon obverse, and 3) a desire for a more consistent and perhaps leaner—read more thoroughly Japanese—iconography.
The new 5-sen type (of 1897) was copper-nickel like its immediate predecessor (of 1889), but featured a “Starburst” obverse rather than the stylized chrysanthemum of the earlier type. The 1897 Coinage Act made the 5-sen coin legal tender in amounts up to 1 yen, and the earlier copper-nickel 5-sen and the small silver 5-sen that preceded it remained legal tender.
This particular 5-sen piece is a second-year example of the new type, coined in 1898 (Meiji 31), with the type’s largest annual mintage: 18,197,271.
1898. This particular 5-sen was coined the year the Russians extracted a leasehold on the peninsula of land on which Port Arthur lay, the same peninsula that the Japanese had occupied as a result of the Sino-Japanese War, but had been forced to surrender by a combination of European powers the year before. The Russian lease on Port Arthur infuriated the Japanese, and it was one of those real estate transactions that would be revisited a few years later.
Finally, I note the catalog prices of this 5-sen type, which suggest that very many of this 5-sen type were recovered from circulation later on. Anyone familiar with the details of the withdrawal? When, why, or how many?
v.
